


RE: Impossible Love

by Servant0fthorns



Category: Vampire Knight (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M, Friendship, Romance, Self-Discovery, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:27:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24243532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Servant0fthorns/pseuds/Servant0fthorns
Summary: Gina Yukimura is anything but normal. Other than a seemingly cold personality, she is obsessed with drawing, loves to bite on her pencil with her long canines, and often has headaches that cause her to see spots of colors and a dry, burning throat. After years of her mother's friend, the headmaster, begging, she has transferred to Cross Academy where her life changes forever. She meets Kemino SaiJin, a student with her own secrets despite her cheery exterior. Together the girls take on high school: classes, bullying, and falling in love. But nothing is as easy as it sounds, especially when vampires are involved.Rewrite of my fic written back in 2009-2012.
Relationships: Ichijou Takuma/Original Female Character(s), Kiryuu Zero/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 7





	1. Night One

**Author's Note:**

> Rewrite of my fic written back in 2009-2012: "Impossible Love" on fanfiction dot net. Mainly updated to be more mature and have a better focus on the relationships. Will follow most of the established cannon until I decided it's too dumb and my story's better. Warning: updates will be inconsistent because being an adult sucks and my brain doesn't like to work when I want it to. Hoping that putting this out there will give me motivation to push forward.

Two light purple orbs floated on top of the black blob that was in front of her. Everything around it was even more out of focus and a blur of yellows and grays. There was incoherent humming; lots of it, but there seemed to be a deeper tone that stuck out. The orbs and blob came closer. Her head spun as it felt like she was spinning. Something was touching her. Her throat was so dry it was burning. There was a deep desire inside. Lust? Hunger?

“Gina, wake up; we’re almost there.”

Gina groaned as she’s woken by a gentle shake. She rubbed both her eyes with her right hand as she strained to open her blue eyes. Her sight faded from the incoherent blurs from before, the lavender orbs fading last, and put together the inside of the family car; dark leather seats and black carpeting. She could see her pink hair in the corner of her eye. Her mother was turned towards her from the front passenger seat. Her honey colored hair sparkled in the sunset that shined outside the window. She wore a cream colored coat with dark buttons and a dark green scarf. 

“Have a good nap?” her mother asked as she turned back in her seat. Gina replied with a grunt as she held back a yawn. “You were out for a while.”

“I was finishing a drawing last night,” the teenager replied. She stretched her legs as much as she could in her seat.

“And here I thought you were up all night because you were nervous,” her father’s voice said from the driver’s seat. One blue eye looked back at her in the rear view mirror as the other one was covered by brilliant red hair. 

“Nervous about what?”

“New school; new people; new environment. The stuff normal fifteen year old girls get nervous about?”

“Since when has our daughter been considered normal, Sekino?” her mother asked as she poked her husband’s side. “And you were the one all worried a few minutes ago.”

“You were too Aki,” he reminded her.

Gina laughed softly to herself at the exchange. “I’ll be fine guys.”

The girl adjusted herself to a more comfortable position, resting her head on a hand while her elbow was propped up on the car door. The sky outside was various shades of oranges and pinks as the sun began to set. It was similar to the picture that was in the open sketch book next to her; something she had done hours ago at the start of the trip. She watched as the scene outside turned from open wilderness to a small populated area to a bustling town. There were a few people outside, mostly finishing up their day's worth of work; women completing their shopping as stores closed; men returning home to their wives after being away for the day. It was a lot busier than her small hometown. Her heart jumped at the sight of the new environment. Maybe she was a tad nervous. Absentmindedly, she grabbed a pencil from the seat next to her and started to bite its already damaged end with a sharp canine. 

Gina Yukimura was currently on her way to the prestigious Cross Academy. The headmaster, Kaien Cross, was a close friend of her mother’s from her years as a detective. Every time he visited their home, he would always mention that there was a place for Gina at his school. It was no different when the man visited last month after a couple years of absence. Despite years of resisting his invitations, her parents agreed this time around. She still didn’t know what changed their minds or what discussion the adults had; Gina was up in her room during that time. She was confused since the fifteen year old in no way had the grades or behavior record to be accepted into such an esteemed school. Her parents spoke about life experiences and getting a taste of being independent. The headmaster spoke about their art program. She could tell they weren’t telling her something. After thinking it over, she decided that whatever they were hiding, she would find out if she went to the academy.

The sky outside slowly turned darker. Gina’s deep blue eyes darted around, waiting to see the first glimpse of moonlight. It was something she always found beautiful and more energizing than the sun. Sadly the vague orange tint of the sky that remained indicated that was something still several minutes away. The town streets slowly became less crowded, and buildings stopped being on top of each other. Soon buildings became sparse, then were replaced with an abundance of trees. Thick trunks and heavy with green leaves.

Eventually, a stone wall was visible among the trees, even in the dim light.

Her father slowed the car to a stop in front of a dark iron gate. It was lined with lit lanterns, one on each side. The flames inside danced with each gust of wind despite their cover. One side of the gate was open. Standing at the opening were two people. 

First was a man who appeared to be in his mid to late thirties; though Gina knew he was much older than that. His dirty blonde hair was tied back and he was wearing simple pants and a long coat with his shoulders covered in a dark shawl; sensitive to the cold air. He had a kind face and warm eyes; his glasses were slightly slipped down his nose. Kaien Cross. He looked more like a female nursing school teacher rather than a headmaster for a prestigious school.

Next to him was a girl who looked to be about Gina's age. She had brown hair down just past her jaw line and big brown eyes. She was wearing the Cross Academy uniform, a black jacket with silver details, a red ribbon tied neatly on her chest, a black skirt, black knee high socks and brown boots. Around her left arm was a white armband and in red was the academy's symbol, which looked like a runic depiction of a rose with a crescent moon in the center. Yuuki Cross, the headmaster’s adoptive daughter.

All three of the Yukimuras took a moment to stretch their stiff limbs before getting out of their car. Gina gathered her belongings that sat next to her, the open sketch book and a couple of pencils, shoving them into a black messenger bag that was already filled with similar objects. She ran her fingers through her pink hair, trying to make sure she looked somewhat presentable after being stuck in a car for a whole day.

Stepping out of the car, cold air rushed by the skin of her face. It was refreshing after being cooped up for so long. The sky was darker than before, a dim grey now. Her father walked by her to get her luggage out of the trunk of the car while her mother greeted her old friend.

"Glad to see you made it," Kaien Cross said as he exchanged a hug with the honey haired woman.

"It wasn't too difficult, just long," Aki replied with a smile. “We really need to visit each other more often.” She turned to the brunette next to the headmaster. "And you must be Yuuki. Kaien's told me so much about you."

“Ah, yes!” The brunette seemed to be taken aback by Aki’s greeting, as if she was lost in thought. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” She bowed in a flustered manner. Aki giggled to herself.

"Thought you'd be younger," Gina said, now standing near her mother. She stood wearing simple black jeans and a green jacket with brown lining and hood not quite zipped up all the way. She also wore black shoes with thick soles to make her seem taller than she actually was. Her pink hair was long on the sides of her face and short in the back with shaggy bangs and a long strand in the middle that reached her nose, which swayed to the side. The black messenger bag hung on her shoulder. She had her hands in the pockets of her jacket; one hand mindlessly fiddling with her chewed pencil. 

Yuuki stood up straight and looked at Gina with her big brown eyes. "Why do you say that?" she asked. Her voice was sweet, reflective of her obvious kind nature.

"He talks about you like you're five."

Yuuki turned to her adopted father with a stern look. "Headmaster, you can't act like I'm a small child still. I'm almost sixteen!"

"You know that Daddy means well," Kaien said, with an embarrassed expression, pushing his index fingers together in front of him.

"Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," Sekino said, now joining the others. He had gotten Gina's luggage case from the trunk of the car. He was wearing a green and black plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up and straight jeans. His lips subtly moved as if he was going to say more after taking in the girl’s appearance, but he stopped himself.

Yuuki looked over the man, her brows furrowing slightly as if lost in thought. She glanced at the headmaster and was about to open her mouth, but the red haired man cut her off. "Is something wrong?" His voice had a childlike innocence to it.

"No, not at all!" Yuuki said, embarrassed. She glanced back at the headmaster. "But..."

"Everything's alright Yuuki," Kaien smiled. "It's getting late though; we can’t have you delay patrol too long. Why don't you take Gina-chan to the dorms? I need to talk to Aki and Sekino about a few things."

"Right!”

Gina let out a small sigh and she turned to her parents. Now that it was actually happening, she was nervous to say goodbye, nervous of being on her own for the first time. “Don’t travel all night long,” she said. She was always one for deflecting to a small joke rather than being upfront with her feelings.

"We'll be seeing you later," Aki said, giving her daughter a hug goodbye. "Please try to behave yourself."

"I always do," Gina said. Her mother gave her a stern look, similar to the one she had on when the teenager was expelled from her last school a few months ago. Her blue eyes darted to the side to avoid the gaze. "I'll try Mom."

"You need any help getting settled?" Sekino asked, his typical fatherly concern apparent in his voice.

"No, I got it.”

Sekino handed off the luggage to his daughter and then hugged her. "Don't forget to enjoy yourself," he said. "Love you."

"Love you too Dad." Gina looked between her parents who both smiled at her, yet their eyes were sad and almost scared. "Why are you looking at me like that? You look like you're never going to see me again."

Aki shook her head as she felt tears well up in her eyes, annoyed that her emotions were started to get the better of her. "It's nothing honey. We'll see you at the end of the semester."

Gina shrugged her suspicions off and started heading onto the school's grounds. “It was a pleasure to meet you!” Yuuki said, giving a curtsy bow to the Yukimuras before she quickly followed after Gina. The adults started speaking in hushed tones as the girls fell out of earshot. 

They first walked along the main path, lined by trees. Their path was paved with cobblestone, which made the heels of Yuuki’s boots click with each step, while GIna’s steps were more of a solid thud. The main school building came into view quickly. It was large, three stories, with a gothic inspired construction. It seemed to have been renovated to be a little more modern, but not by much. Yuuki led Gina through a tall, round archway that was in the center of the building; surrounded by what could be classrooms. In the distance, a second archway could be seen, but this one was a little shorter and was part of an outdoor hallway with a number of smaller, pointed arches lining it from one end of the building to the other. This indicated that the shape of the school building was a square U, save for the outdoor hall that made it a complete square. As they walked, the brunette explained that this was the back of the school building and they were heading to the front. The pink haired girl made a comment on how backwards the grounds seemed to be, and the response she received was a laugh. As they made their way through the schoolyard, Gina felt a bit uneasy; as if someone was watching her.

Past the second archway, the entrance to the school, they came to a Y-shaped intersection. In the middle of the intersection was a large fountain. Both paths led to stone bridges with towers in the center and an archway with large wooden doors in front of them. A large lake laid beyond. Along both sides of the single path leading from the school were open and unpaved paths to the rest of the grounds. The left side seemed to be more traveled than the right.

Yuuki directed them to the bridge on the left, explaining that the other path led to the Moon dorms, the dorms for the Night class, and how Day class students weren’t allowed to go there. That rule made Gina give her a questioning look. Before she could ask about it, Yuuki went on to say it was because of the Classes being on opposite schedules with a laugh. That was strange though; despite her family's close relationship with the headmaster, Gina doesn't remember him mentioning that there was a night option for classes. She much rather do that since she has a bad habit of staying up most nights anyway.

During the walk across the bridge, Yuuki went over the basic rules for the Academy. Her voice was still kind, but focused on her task as she went through everything. Can't leave the grounds without permission. The cafeteria, located in the main building, is only open for a limited time for breakfast and dinner, and it's the students' responsibility to be there at those times; lunch is a mandatory period in the afternoon. The baths are open from 8am to 8pm in the dorms. Girls and boys can't go into each other's dorms. And Day Class students are not allowed out past sundown, while the Night Class students weren’t allowed out during the day.

Finally, they made it to the Sun Dorms. They were two seperate tall buildings. The stoned pathway had branches leading to the left and right of the dorms, but Yuuki didn’t explain where those led. Just like the path from the main gate, the dorm area was surrounded by tall trees. Gina stopped for a moment to stretch her arms. She stretched them above her head with a groan. The sun had finished setting back when they were still at the school; stars now filled the sky among the clouds and the crescent moon shone brightly. Seeing the moonlight made Gina feel revitalized, making her smile at the glow. She stretched her neck side to side before grabbing hold of her luggage once again.

"What are you doing here?"

Gina looked behind her and saw the source of the venomous voice: a tall boy with outgrown white hair that laid over the top of his narrow eyes. He was wearing the Day Class boy uniform, though his jacket was open and the red tie was loose around his neck. Around his left arm was the same white band that Yuuki had. He had a fierce look on his face, clearly not happy with the pink haired girl's presence.

"Uh, moving in," Gina said, turning around, pulling her own displeased face to match his unpleasant tone. The boy looked over her and his expression turned into a scowl. 

Before either of them could say more, Yuuki took notice of the boy. "Hey Zero," she said. “I thought you’d be patrolling around the stables."

"I already finished," the boy said, his expression softening slightly and walking to meet the two girls.

"I guess you're not a complete bum then," Yuuki giggled with a sweet smile. "Oh, this is Gina Yukimura. She's going to be attending classes with us tomorrow." Yuuki turned to Gina. "Gina-chan, this is my partner Zero Kiryuu. We're the two members of the Disciplinary Committee. He can be a jerk sometimes, but he's not that bad."

There was a long silence between the teenagers. Yuuki started to panic as it went on. Gina and Zero stared at each other. The boy was still glaring at the new girl. Now closer, she could make out the details of his face. And his light purple eyes. 

A feeling of deja vu rushed over her, but it didn’t get rid of her displeasure of his scowl. If looks could kill, she would definitely be a bloody mess on the ground right now. She’s only been here, what, an hour, and someone was already judging her. The displeasure quickly turned to irritation. "If you have something to say, say it to my face," Gina said, her own blue eyes narrowed.

Zero remained silent for a few seconds. Other than his scowl, the boy’s face was stoic. It was difficult to tell what his thought process was. "Just don't get into any trouble," he said, turning around and putting his hands in his pockets. "Hurry up, Yuuki."

"What? Wait a minute Zero!" Zero ignored the small brunette and continued walking away. Yuuki sighed. "What was that about?"

"Who knows?" Gina said. "Let's just get inside." Her body shuddered as it tried to relax now that the seeming threat was gone. The way Zero glared at her was with absolute hatred. It was disturbing.

The two girls made their way into the Girls’ dorm. The stone building had five or six stories, just like its twin. It had a similar gothic architecture as the school building. The inside was more modern than the outside, using small electric lamps rather than fire ones. Gina wondered where the power was coming from since there was no sign of any electrical lines on the grounds. The walls were a warm color with natural oak colored furniture. Yuuki resumed giving a small tour and a run down of the rules. She noted where the dorm president’s room was, as well as her own. They climbed the stairs to the third floor.

"So, you're going to be rooming with Kemino SaiJin," Yuuki said, leading Gina down the hall. "This is her first year at the Academy; everyone else has been here pretty much since grade or middle school. She's a little unique, but a really nice girl."

Gina gave a noise of acknowledgement. Hopefully this Kemino and her will get along so Gina could copy her notes. As they continued down the hall, which was dimly lit with lamps spaced by several feet, a rhythmic, mechanical noise kept getting louder. Yuuki stopped at one of the last doors, the sound at its loudest, only muffled by the closed door. "Oh, she must be working," Yuuki commented.

"Working?" Gina wondered out loud.

Yuuki knocked politely on the door. Behind the door, the mechanical noise stopped and it sounded like someone jumped. "Kemino-chan, it's me, Yuuki,"

“One sec!” a voice, presumably Kemino, behind the door said. The mechanical noise resumed for a few seconds again. Then silence. The door opened to reveal a girl that was a few inches taller than both Gina and Yuuki. She had blue hair that was pulled back into a messy ponytail due to its layers. She was wearing the remains of her uniform: just the white button down shirt and skirt, with her socks pulled above her knees. Her round purple eyes looked over Gina was a hint of weariness.

“Sorry about the wait; a seam in my jacket came undone and I wanted to fix it before it got too late.” The girl smiled sweetly. "Hi there, you must be Gina-chan. I'm Kemino. Hope we get along." Kemino opened the door all the way and ushered the other girls into the room.

"Nice to meet you," Gina said, walking in. The room looked very much like an apartment. She had expected just a pair of beds and desks in a small room, but this was a common living area, including a couch and some tables. In one corner, there was an empty desk, save for a small card that said Welcome in very fluid writing, most likely done by Kemino. At one end of the room was another desk, moved so that whoever sat at it could see both the doors to the hall and to another room. On that desk was a sewing machine with presumably Kemino’s uniform jacket on and an extra lamp. On the right wall was a closed door.

"You're so handy Kemino-chan," Yuuki said with admiration, standing in the doorway. "I’m so clumsy when it comes to things like that. Especially if it’s delicate like embroidery.”

"Good thing that Kaname-kun doesn’t care for stuff like that, isn’t it?” Kemino said with a smirk and giggle.

Yuuki’s face immediately turned red at the name. “W-why would something like matter?” she asked. Kemino just continued to giggle, as if she knew something else. "Umm… Uhh... I gotta get going to my disciplinary duties!" the brunette stammered and basically ran into the hallway.

"Night Yuuki-chan," Kemino called after her before closing the door. The cheery expression that Kemino had on fell; the muscles on her face relaxing to a natural smile. "Yuuki-chan is nice and all, but she can be a little exhausting, don't you think?"

Gina smirked. "Just a bit. So, who’s Kaname?"

"Oh, just a friend I like to tease her about." Kemino put her hands on her hips. "So, welcome to your dorm! As you can see this is the common area. That's my work station in the corner. I sometimes take up the whole floor when I have to cut fabric. The bedroom's pass this door." The blue haired girl went to the closed door and opened it and the two of them went inside.

One of the beds was pressed against the far wall with a stuffed purple bear that's seen better days. The other bed was directly to Gina's left. In between the beds were two short dressers. At the front of each bed was a chest. Gina lifted up her luggage case to set it on her new bed and then put her bag on top of the closest dresser.

"So the door back here is the bathroom," Kemino said, walking to the end of the room. She leaned against the wall with her hands behind her back. "Sadly, it's not a full bath. The dorm baths are at the end of each side of the hall; so thankfully we're close to it. They're only open a few hours before class starts and a few hours after. Why it’s like that, I don’t know; the headmaster is probably trying to save on the water bill or something. But this here is good for doing your hair, makeup and such." As she spoke, Gina started unpacking. She could feel Kemino’s eyes on the back of her head as she took out multiple sketchbooks from among her luggage, not touching the ones in her bag. "The other two doors are the closet. You have to supply your own hangers. I have extra if you need them."

"I should be ok," Gina said, flipping through her books, distracted by their contents. "The only thing I have to hang is the uniform."

"Okay. Did I leave anything out?"

"No, I think you covered everything." Gina took the books out of the room and put them in one of the drawers of her desk.

"So, I take it you draw a lot," Kemino commented when she returned. Her voice wavered slightly on her words, as if she was trying to choose the right ones. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something was off about her new roommate. An uneasy feeling sat in her stomach.

"I've been told that." Gina started unpacking her clothing from her luggage case. She set the folded uniform on top of her dresser. "I think it's a normal amount. I take it that you sew a lot."

"Yeah, I guess I do. It's a fun way to unwind after homework."

"Ever make any money off it?" Despite the blunt delivery, there was a joking tone to Gina’s voice.

"Shhh! I didn't tell you that," Kemino giggled. "It's mostly basic fixings. I've only done one outfit for someone else."

"Neat. How late do you usually stay up?"

"Later than what's technically allowed. Sometimes because I'm reading, others because I can't fall asleep. The disciplinary patrol does visit, like, twice a month to tell me off if the light's on."

"Have you hit that twice a month quota yet?"

"Uhh... I think so?"

"Good. I'm kinda nocturnal and tend to stay up, like, all night."

" That's some interesting wording." Kemino said, half to herself.

"It's what my parents always said."

Silence fell on the pair. Gina continued unpacking and getting her stuff settled in. Kemino watched her with her weary eyes in silence. Behind her back she was fiddling with her fingers together behind her back, trying to keep herself calm. Her stomach ached from her uneasiness. Everything was normal so far, but why did she feel this way?

"So... if you're nocturnal, why didn't you join the Night Class?" Kemino asked slowly, shifting her weight a little.

"I didn't even know it existed," Gina said, taking her empty luggage case and sliding it under her bed. "Cross never mentioned it or even gave me a choice. What's the difference between them and us?"

Kemino stifled a laugh. "I think you're the first girl to actually ask that." Gina gave a questioning look. "You'll see tomorrow. Anyway, from what we've been told, the Night Class are college aged and super smart, taking advanced college level courses. Takuma-kun said that the headmaster wanted to keep the class small for better learning and the best way to do that was to have the classes at night."

"'Takuma-kun?'"

Kemino shifted her weight, her eyes nervously darting around before settling on Gina. She swallowed before speaking again. "Takuma-kun's a close friend of mine. He's in the Night Class. It sucks because we don't get to hang out as much." She smiled at the end.

Gina opened the chest in front of her bed and started filling it with thick sweaters and jackets. "Well I guess Cross knew how horrific my grades were, so he didn't even consider me for it," she said, taking her school boots and setting them next to the chest. Gravity started to take effect on the open chest lid; it slowly started to close before slamming down with a loud band. Gina cringed slightly with it right next to her ear. "Ow."

Kemino jumped and audibly sucked in a breath. Her purple eyes were wide and all of her hair stood on end. She fiddled with her hands behind her back and tried to slow her breathing.

"You ok SaiJin?" Gina asked with some concern on her face.

"I-I'm ok," Kemino stuttered. "Loud noises like that kinda scare me." She gave a weak laugh to mask her anxiety. She took a few breaths before smiling back at her roommate. "See? All better." The blue haired girl pushed herself off the wall and started leaving the room. "Anyway, I got an assignment that I need to do. Can you do me a favor and leave the door open?"

"Yeah, no problem. I’ll probably be out there soon." Gina wasn’t fully convinced by her roommate's words. She seemed scared of her. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Looks like school wasn't going to be all that simple.

**_I’ll also show you a sweet dream next night~_ **


	2. Day One

"Hey, you got like 5 minutes to shower and get dressed, otherwise we're not going to have enough time to eat breakfast."

Gina groaned slightly as she was shaken awake. She had her head resting on her left arm on top of her sketchbook, drool staining the sleeve of her jacket. She was still holding a pencil in her right hand as if she was still using it. The page under her had imitations of the school buildings she saw the night before. She slowly opened her eyes and sat up. It took her a few seconds to realize where she was. She yawned and stretched her arms.

"Were you drawing in your sleep?" Gina turned in her chair and saw Kemino, but her hair was now super long and almost white in twin braids with long bangs parted to the side. She also had subtle eye makeup to compliment the new color. Her school uniform was in prime condition.

"It would be a first for me. What happened to your hair?"

Kemino giggled and twirled the end of her bangs with a finger. "It's a wig. I like changing it up and confusing people. There's no rule about it, so I can't get in trouble." The closer Gina looked at Kemino's face, she noticed that she had make-up over her eyebrows to dull their natural color. “Three minutes now.”

Gina got out of her chair and quickly washed her face in the bathroom and ran a wet comb through her short hair to make it presentable. Then she got dressed in her uniform. She neglected to pull her socks all the way up to her knees or buttoning up her uniform jacket. Her white button up shirt was done up, but the top button was undone. The red ribbon was tied loosely and unevenly, mostly hanging on her breast. She grabbed her black messenger bag before following Kemino out the door.

Before going to the school cafeteria for breakfast, the girls had to make a quick detour to the Headmaster's office, which was not too far from the dorms, to get Gina's schedule. Kemino did comment on Gina's appearance, however the pink haired girl shrugged it off. The building was like the others on the grounds, modernized Gothic and surrounded by the forest that the academy was located. Though there was a small, well kept garden next to it. A lake could be seen in the distance.

After visiting the headmaster, the two made their way across the bridge, joining a sea of black clothed students. The cafeteria was located in the front, right corner of the school building. It was your typical mess hall, several long tables with chairs and a serving station of the meal. While they ate, Kemino helped Gina understand her schedule and did her best to give a quick summary of the teachers she knew. The girls' schedules lined up today so Gina followed Kemino to the classroom after the warning bell rang. 

Eventually, they reached the classroom. It was a lecture room with a chalk board and podium at the front of the room. There were four rows of long tables; some students were already sitting. Yuuki sat in the second row next to another girl with light hair that curled around her face. Yuuki waved to the two girls as they walked by and Kemino returned the wave with a smile. The brunette looked as if she had stayed up all night.

Kemino went to the last row of the room and sat in the middle of the row. Gina sat next to her. From here, she could see practically the whole room. The white haired girl set down a few notebooks on the desk and opened one to a blank page, flipping through the pages of notes with doodles in the corners. The new student followed her roommate's example, except instead of a notebook, Gina took out her a black sketchbook. Inspired by her new environment, she already started moving her pencil across the paper.

The morning lectures went on without anything eventful. Kemino noted to herself that she didn't see a certain white haired boy in his usual spot the row ahead of her and a few seats down. The last time this happened, Yuuki had freaked out and ran out of the room. It was a few weeks ago, a day or two after Takuma’s birthday, and when her hair started to stand on end whenever the boy was nearby more so than usual. Kemino looked down at the smaller disciplinary member; the brunette looked like she could barely keep her eyes open and was barely keeping up with the lecture. She shrugged off her worry since Yuuki didn’t seem distressed and Zero’s tardiness is almost a habit at this point.

The ringing of a large brass bell rang through the building, signaling the afternoon break. The currently white haired girl had a bit of difficulty pulling her roommate away from her drawing long enough to get her to eat. She had to cover the pink haired girl’s blue eyes in order to break her concentration. While doing so, Kemino got to see what Gina was drawing. There was a bed with lots of sheets and blankets. A person's forearm and hand were hanging off the bed just right of the center of the drawing. To the left of the center was an outline of a person sitting and it looked like they had a hand to their face.

Gina looked visibly irritated in the midday sunlight. It was easy to tell that she only got an hour or so of sleep. Throughout the lunch period Kemino asked her a few questions about this morning’s classes, but it soon turned into her summarizing the lessons for the new student. Gina nodded along to her roommate's mini lecture, her blue eyes wandering around the cafeteria.

"That Kiryuu guy isn't around," Gina muttered to herself.

"Oh, you already met Zero-kun?" Kemino asked, taken aback a little.

"He gave me death glare while Cross was bringing me to the dorm last night," Gina said. "I didn't even do anything and he was being a huge dick."

Kemino laughed a little. "He's like that with everyone, especially the Night Class; don't take it personally. He might have thought you were one of them since you came so late." Her purple eyes darted around their surroundings quickly as if surveying their safety. She rested her head in her hands on the table. "I don't know why," she said, her voice dragging a bit as she picked the right words, "but part of the disciplinary committee's job is to patrol the grounds at night. Because of that, Yuuki-chan and Zero-kun don't get back until the wee hours of the morning; probably about the same time you fell asleep if I had to guess."

"That's a bit excessive."

"I agree. Anyway, Zero-kun doesn't have a roommate to help him wake up for classes like Yuuki-chan does. I don't think he purposely means to be late, he just sometimes is."

“I wouldn’t call that model behavior for a disciplinary member.”

“It’s because the headmaster sees him as a son, so you can say it’s a family business.”

Gina pulled a bit of a face as she got lost in thought. Son? She doesn’t think she ever heard Kaien mention anything about a son, it was always Yuuki and how cute she was. And for him to give what seems to be a security detail to his children was a bit suspicious. 

After lunch, the girls returned to their seats from earlier. The afternoon sun shined through the windows, some of the rays shining directly on Gina. She had gone right back into her drawing, wanting to complete it before she lost the details that she had already laid out in her head. The warmth of the sun made her body heavy. Her eyelids started closing and she tried to keep them open. Usually, she can function normally with only a few hours of sleep, but the long trip yesterday must have affected her more than she thought.

Kemino sighed to herself as she listened along to the teacher's lecture. She was doodling in the margins of her notes. The teacher's voice just dragged on and on; his tone talked down to the students. Her purple eyes wandered down from the front of the students sitting at their desks. She noticed that the small disciplinary member with her head on her desk asleep. She started counting down to herself for when the teacher turned around and noticed.

"Cross!" he snapped, though it had no effect on the sleeping girl. "Don't think you'll get special treatment just because you're the headmaster's daughter. I will definitely make you take supplementary classes!"

Kemino turned to make a small joke to Gina, but realized in horror that her new friend was also asleep. The pink haired girl was resting her head in her hand with a chewed pencil in her mouth. "Gina-chan..." she whimpered, trying to shake the other girl awake before she also faced the teacher's wrath. Her eyes darted between Gina and the teacher.

Suddenly, the classroom door opened and Zero Kiryuu walked in with a yawn. If life was like one of the manga that Kemino spent her free time reading, the teacher would have a huge vein pop right about now.

"You're late again Kiryuu." It almost sounded like the teacher was growling. The white haired boy seemed to mutter a half-hearted apology behind the hand over his mouth. "I can't take it anymore! Cross! Kiryuu! You've got supplementary classes until late! I don't care about your Disciplinary Committee duties!"

Kemino continued to try and shake Gina awake while the teacher went on his tangent. The smaller girl made a groan, but refused to open her eyes. As if the teacher felt Kemino's fear, or because of her poor luck, the teacher looked at the students ready to inflict his wrath on others. Kemino quickly went back into a normal position as if she was waiting for the teacher to continue with class.

"Yukimura!" the teacher shouted, "I don't care if it's your first day; you're going to stay late too!"

Hearing her name being cursed for what felt like the umpteenth time by a teacher, Gina opened her eyes lazily. She acknowledged her punishment by giving a half-hearted “‘Kay.” The teacher didn't seem to like Gina's nonchalant acceptance as he snapped the piece of chalk in his hand.

Zero went to sit in his spot in the row in front of the two girls, a couple of seats away, and the tension in the air slowly eased up. Kemino let out a small sigh of relief and gave her neighbor a concerned look. "You could be a little more concerned about getting in trouble on day one," she whispered.

"It's not the first time," Gina replied. Her sleepy eyes wandered around the room. "The discipline duo got in trouble first and set him off anyway."

"I don't think it really matters who did what first..."

The afternoon class went on and eventually the final bell rang. Kemino gave Gina a pat on the back for good luck before leaving. Gina looked up from her drawing to see the rest of the students leaving as well, except for the two disciplinary members. Zero got out of his seat not too far from her, and moved to the front row. Yuuki also got up from her seat and sat next to Zero.

"Yukimura, you sit up here too," the teacher said in his strict tone.

Gina rolled her eyes. Every other detention she’s been in let her sit wherever. She gathered her things and moved to the front of the room with her fellow detention mates. She put the end of her chewed pencil in her mouth as she sat down next to Zero at the end of the row, slouching over the desk and resting the side of her head on a half-propped up arm. The angle of her head had her sight on the two other students instead of the teacher.

The white haired boy glanced over at the pink haired girl with narrow eyes. Gina raised an eyebrow at him. "What?" she asked. Zero stayed silent and turned his gaze back to the teacher. “Good talk.”

"Open your textbooks," the teacher snapped to silence Gina. "You three are staying until we go over everything from class."

Gina faintly heard Yuuki and Zero whisper to each other as the teacher began the extra lesson. The brunette had a worried look in her eyes. Zero's expression was more neutral, accepting his circumstance. Both sighed as they realized there was no way out.

Time moved slowly and dragged on. Outside, the sky was changing from blue to pink and orange as the sun began setting. The teacher wasn't kidding when he said he was going to go over EVERYTHING from class. Gina stared off towards the bottom of the wall where it meets the floor, thinking about how she'd definitely would rather be at her old school where the detention was a much more populated place and the teacher wasn't so observant; she'd get away with just drawing in the back and teachers thought she was actually doing her work. The teacher here kept throwing chalk at her head every time she went to add more detail to her drawing. She again had her pencil in her mouth, occasionally moving it between her teeth and lips. Her stomach growled, annoyed that it hasn't been fed dinner yet.

This was definitely the worst first day of school she’s had.

Gina glanced over to the disciplinary committee. Yuuki's small frame peeked past Zero's body. The brunette had her face in a book, her brows furrowed as she tried to follow along with the lecture. Her brown eyes kept nervously looking out the window and up at the clock above the blackboard every few seconds.

Zero was resting his hand against his face, his elbow propped up on the desk. He had a similar disinterested look on his face as Gina did. Since he wasn't scowling, Gina could get a clear look at his eyes. They were lavender and they gleamed under his white hair. It was such an interesting color; just enough of the purple hue to be seen against the whites of his eyes. And they looked so familiar to her.

"Zero, this isn't good," Yuuki whispered to her partner behind a book. "The Night Class students will be leaving their dorm soon."

The white haired boy gave a small nod in agreement and turned his head to the door. In his sight, he saw the new student's almond-shaped blue eyes staring at him. They seemed entranced; possibly with curiosity. His eyes looked down at her and turned into their usual scowl.

Heat flooded her cheeks as Gina, realizing she was awkwardly staring, quickly looked away and shot out of her seat. She didn't mean to stare that long. She did, however, have every urge to rush back to her room to recreate those eyes.

"Yukimura, sit back down," the teacher snapped. "We are not finished."

"Yeah, but I need to eat before I go mad," Gina said as she picked up her few things. She walked over to the classroom door to open it. When she tried opening it, there was a sound of metal rattling and the door was stuck."What the..?" She looked down at the door handle. The twin doors were chained together around the handles and sealed with a padlock. Unfortunately, the list of Gina's skills did not include lock-picking. "The hell's this crap?!"

The teacher gave a sinister smirk. "If you want to leave, you have to finish your work first." he said, flashing a key in his hand. "That'll teach you kids to take your education a bit more seriously!"

Zero got out of his seat and stood next to Gina. He studied over the door and its restraints for a couple of seconds; looking bored with his hands in his pockets. He took a breath and then kicked the chain into the door. The metal links broke and the twin doors flew open.

Gina stared at the scene in disbelief. Looking at him, Zero didn't seem like he had the muscle mass to perform such an act. Not giving up her chance, Gina started walking out the doorway. As she passed by Zero, she gave him a slight tap on his arm. "Nice job."

The white haired boy jumped at her touch. His first instinct was to reach into his open jacket, but the girl's level voice of praise stopped him. He watched as the pinked haired girl started to head towards the exit of the building. The sight of her really made his stomach turn. He took a breath; he should just keep an eye on her to make sure. He followed Gina's example and started to head out of the building; hearing Yuuki behind him.

Once Gina was outside, she could hear the sounds of a crowd. It sounded like a boy band concert; lots of girly squeals of admiration. She pulled a face as she walked to where she remembered the dorms were; with each step, the noises got louder and the more her stomach sank. 

Reaching the Y intersection before the dorm bridges, there was a sea of black uniforms gathered on the Moon Dorm bridge. Gina stood in disbelief as she saw the crowd of Day Class girls. Within the crowd was the source of their unrest: students in white uniforms. She couldn't make out any details of individual people from where she was. However, the overall sight of the mysterious Night Class students made her stomach feel sick. She furrowed her brow and resumed walking towards the Day Class dorms.

"Gina-chan!" a familiar voice called to her among the gargle of girls. Gina turned and saw her white haired roommate signalling her to join her. She was standing next to the central fountain facing the Moon bridge, a bit of a distance away from the crowd. "I see that you've finally escaped detention."

"Ugh, I thought I was going to hang myself," Gina said. "Kiryuu had to kick the door down for us."

"Zero-kun did what now?" Kemino asked, tilting her head slightly.

"The teacher fucking chained up the door. First time I've seen that,"

"Uh-huh..." Kemino crossed her arms. "I knew Fukase-sensei was a bit strict, but that's a whole different level."

"Anyway, what the hell is this nonsense?" Gina motioned her free hand towards the other Day class girls; the other was holding her sketchbook against her side.

"You seem to be in a bad mood," Kemino giggled.

"I'm starving."

"Fair, but you already passed by the cafeteria, silly. Well, every day when it's the changing of the classes, the other girls like to come out here and... catch a glimpse of their adored Night Class."

"Is that what you're doing too?"

The taller girl gave a shrug. "I just hang around to try and catch up with Takuma-kun; sometimes trading manga. And to watch my private drama between the disciplinary committee and the head of the Night class. Speaking of which, it looks like they finally got here."

Gina turned back towards the school building. Yuuki was frantically running towards the crowd, trying to get the girls to calm down. She had to blow on a whistle to get anyone to pay attention to her. Meanwhile, Zero just walked his way over and his presence alone made girls calm down. The two got the crowd to part to allow the Night Class students to make their way to the school building.

"See that tall guy with the long brown hair in front?" Kemino asked, pointing to the boy she was describing. "That's Kaname Kuran; he's the head of the class. He totally has a thing for Yuuki-chan and vise versa, but you didn't hear that from me. The blonde next to him is Takuma-kun; he's Kaname-kun's right-hand man."

The two boys were talking between them as the group of white clothed students got closer to the end of the bridge. The orange light of the setting sun glistened off the white cloth of their uniforms. Gina could see Takuma's bright green eyes from here; he had a smile on, so he must've been making some sort of joke, but Kaname didn't seem to share his humor. The blonde looked over in the area where the two girls were standing and his eyes lit up even more seeing his friend. He waved to Kemino. It was an excited motion, but was toned down to keep it polite.

Seeing his friend wave, Kaname looked to see who had his attention. Gina felt more sick and her chest tightened as she accidentally met his gaze. There was something in the air that gave her the urge to curl up. She clenched her fist and bit the inside of her lip with her front teeth to keep herself standing. The Night class's path took them near the girls as they made their way to the school. Her heart raced as if in fear. 

"Have a good night guys," Kemino smiled to the white cladded class with a small wave for her friends as they walked by.

"You too, Kemino-chan" Takuma happily replied. Kaname gave a small nod in acknowledgment, his brown eyes glancing over the pink haired girl. The group of students walked past. A few other members of the Night Class gave the two girls a look, some scoffing at how familiar Kemino was and some in curiosity of the new student. Before they turned to the school, Takuma called back to the white haired girl. "Introduce me to your new friend tomorrow!"

Kemino giggled to herself and gave a final wave. She had the vague feeling of people giving her a death glare in the direction of the other Day Class girls, who were now at the end of the bridge and returning to their dorm. Nothing she wasn't used to. Ignoring it, she looked over to Gina, about to explain more about the other class, but the sight of her roommate stopped her. It seemed like all the color was drained from her face and her blue eyes were staring intently at Night Class. "Gina-chan?"

Hearing her name, Gina let go of a breath that she didn't know she was holding. Her eyes softened a bit as she looked back at Kemino. 

"You okay?" Kemino asked, softly putting a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder.

"Something's..." Gina's voice trailed off as she tried to find the right words. "Something's not right about them. Especially that Kuran guy." She unclenched her fist as her nerves settled.

Kemino was silent for a few seconds, trying to come up with an appropriate response. "You know, I've heard that some girls fainted the first time they saw the Night Class. Maybe that's it? Or they're just wearing too much perfume and cologne." Gina gave her a look as if saying "you're kidding, right?" Kemino responded with a shrug. "I wouldn't let it bother you too much. You'll get used to it." She mostly muttered the last sentence, not confident if that was the right thing to say. "Oh hey, did you finish up that drawing from earlier?"

"Almost," Gina said, holding up her sketchbook to show the other girl. In the dimming light, it was difficult to see the lead markings, so Kemino leaned closer to it and squinted as she looked it over. It was a Gothic style bed with a canopy, one of the curtains drawn back, and lots of sheets and blankets. Among the bedding on the right side of the page was a bare, slender arm. To the left of the page was the body of a man sitting against the bed with dark, shoulder length hair and bangs that covered most of the leftmost eye. One of his knees pulled up with an arm resting on it. His other arm was holding his hand to his face as if wiping something from his lip and licking whatever it was. "It needs to have the lines cleaned up mainly. I want to add little hints of color to highlight details that would be difficult to convey with normal lead."

The white haired girl almost choked on a laugh from the irony of her roommate's drawing, immediately recognizing the man depicting a vampire. "I'd say finish giving this dude some clothes first," she quickly said to hide her laughter.

Gina pulled a slight frown. "I’m actually a little stuck on that part."

"Oh, we're perfect for each other then! I can help you out with that."

"Hey, you two," a stern voice directed to the girls. "It's past your curfew. Get going." They turned to the source of the voice. They both had to raise their arms to block the sun that was fading behind the trees. Amidst the light, they saw Zero standing near them with his hands in his pockets; his form mostly darkened. The girls assumed his eyes were in their typical stern look.

"Crap, we don’t want Zero-kun to be angry," Kemino said with an over dramatic gasp. She grabbed Gina's hand and started pulling her along. "Let's go Gina-chan!"

**_~I’ll also show you a sweet dream next night~_ **


	3. Night 2

Crash. Screams. Blood. Cries. Fear. Red. Fangs. Pain. Lies.

Kemino jolted up in her bed as she forced her eyes open to end the images, panting heavily. Her body was shaking as adrenaline pumped through her veins. Hot tears were crawling down her cheeks and falling into her lap; she could still hear the screams. She closed her eyes and put her hands on her head. Her pajamas were sticking to her skin from sweat. In her head, she started counting to ten, trying to slow her breathing down to a normal pace; trying to get her heart to settle.

A shaky arm reached out to grab the old stuffed bear. The blue haired girl held it tightly. It no longer smelt like home; it hasn't in years, but every time she hoped it would. She tried humming an old lullaby to herself quietly. The old scars on her shoulders ached.

Once she calmed down enough, Kemino looked around the bedroom. The door was open and she could see light coming from the other room. She sighed softly to herself, a little amazed that her roommate was still up despite falling asleep in class. She seemed like a normal girl; though a bit of a delinquent when it came to school. Maybe the uneasiness that Kemino felt yesterday was just from Gina being a new person in her space. No... There has to be something more to it.

When Kemino first entered Cross Academy, it was discussed between the headmaster, Kaname, and the discipline members that she was not going to be roomed with anyone. She knew too much and it was too risky. So when the headmaster called her to his office a few days ago, she was shocked to say the least.

_ "I'm sorry sir, but I don't really understand," Kemino said. It felt like her heart had jumped into her throat. Was she excited or afraid? "I thought it was decided that I shouldn't be allowed a roommate?" _

_ Kaien Cross waved his hand, as if waving off the question. He was sitting at his desk with his chin resting on the back of his hands. "Don't worry about it SaiJin-chan," he said with a smile. "You've already proven your trust to me. You've kept the secret of the Night Class and still do your best to be friendly with them. That's the core purpose of the Academy you know." _

_ "But why?" Kemino couldn't tell if fear was apparent in her voice."If something slips and gets out, and makes it back to the Senate, the twins..." _

_ "Kemino-chan." The headmaster's eyes looked at her sadly, despite the smile on his face. "I understand that your circumstances make you a little apprehensive about this. I've known Gina-chan ever since she was born, to tell the truth; her mother and I have been friends for many years. I just think that the two of you would become good friends." _

And that was it. It's too soon to tell if the headmaster's prediction was going to come true yet or not. Gina seemed cool enough so far, though could be a bit boring if she's nonchalant about everything. However, there still was the feeling that she got the first time she saw her. It was so much the first time she saw one of them.

Fear took hold of her body again. Kemino could hear the screams and see the blood again. She hugged her bear tightly and rocked back and forth. "Damn it." She choked back a sob as she cursed. Again, she focused on counting in her head to control her breathing; this time going up to twenty. Her insides ached. All she wanted to do was to see him to give her mind some peace.  Once again, she calmed herself down. Kemino took a breath and held it, firming her resolve. She let it out slowly before getting out of bed. She changed out of her pajamas, an oversized, purple t-shirt and grey pants, and put on a dark grey, athletic jacket and black leggings. She slipped on sneakers from out of her closet and brushed through her hair with her fingers to try and make it look semi-presentable. Then she walked out to the common area.

Her pink haired roommate was sitting at her desk, just as she was when Kemino went to bed, except she wasn't wearing her uniform. Gina was wearing an off-white camisole and black and white plaid shorts. There was a small lamp on her desk providing light for her work station. She had her chewed pencil in her mouth and a red one in her hand. She seemed lost in thought as she looked over her work, slowly tapping the end of the red pencil on the desk.

Kemino frowned to herself. Does she try to sneak past or make her intentions known? She took a step forward. Out of all of the spots her foot could have landed, she stepped on the one creaky floorboard in the room. The noise seemed loud to her, since her senses were still on alert from her nightmare and made her freeze.

Gina turned in her chair at the noise. "Oh, hey," she said. The pencil in her mouth muffled her words. Her blue eyes quickly glanced Kemino up and down. "What's up? Going somewhere?"

Kemino gave a nervous laugh, scratching the back of her head. "Yeah" she said slowly. "I..." Her eyes darted from Gina to the window that was a few steps from her sewing station; her heartbeat ringing in her ears. "I need to go see Takuma-kun." She couldn't come up with a believable lie. Her head was too clogged up with images that she was forcing to the back of her mind. Her palms felt sweaty.

Gina blinked once. "Okay," she said before turning back to her drawing. "Use protection."

Kemino stood in disbelief. It couldn't have been this easy. Everything needs a cover up, a back-up plan, and a back-up back-up plan. Nothing is ever as easy as just telling the truth. Surely if she had said the same thing to anyone else, it was either a punch in the eye, slap across her face, or a stern lecture. "And that was a sex joke," she said as she was trying to process her disbelief.

"Uh, yeah?"

The elder girl smiled softly and walked over to her roommate and put a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks Gina-chan." She looked over the drawing that Gina was working on. In front of her is the piece she's been working on all day. The line work is much cleaner than this afternoon, and the vampire was wearing the garb that Kemino had advised on prior to bed. There was a small spec of red on his thumb and tongue, to show that he was cleaning himself up from a meal. Another book was opened on the other side of her desk, a single page filled with multiple lavender eyes, some obscured by white hair; blank without any emotion.

Gina glanced up at the blue haired girl, mostly in curiosity on why she hasn't gone on her way yet. Her skin looked pale and her hair messy, still baring the effects of wearing a wig all day. The whites of her eyes had hints of redness. She didn't seem like the put-together person she was earlier today. She seemed so vulnerable right now.  "Everything okay?" Gina asked softly. She normally tried to keep out of other people’s business, but her roommate looked so lonely; a feeling she could empathize with a little.

Kemino, who apparently zoned out, shook her head slightly. "Not really," she said. She pulled a face as she debated internally on how much to say. "You seem to be stuck on this." She motioned towards Gina's drawing.

"Yeah," Gina sighed with a groan. "It's fucking stupid. I thought just adding a bit of color would convey it better, but there’s just too little. And I don't want to turn it into a bloodbath. And I don't want the bite mark on the wrist; seems too obvious. Ugh!" The pencil that was in Gina's mouth fell out during her rant.

Purple eyes scanned over the drawing. Kemino took her hand off Gina's shoulder and slowly took the red pencil out of her hands. The image has been burned into her mind for years. Bright red eyes with insanity. With a shaky wrist, she started lightly coloring the vampire's eyes. "Eyes that convey the bloodlust inside," she murmured to herself. She set the pencil down after she did what she thought was good enough. "You could mix in subtle shades of his normal eye color; just a suggestion." She gave a weak smile. "Sorry if I ruined it."

Blue eyes watched as the other girl colored. They widened in enlightenment. It was such an interesting concept! It sounded like Kemino said something as she colored, but Gina couldn't quite make out the words. When she put the pencil down, Gina looked up to Kemino. "That's freaking brilliant." She quickly picked up the pencil and started filling in more of the eyes and deepening the color.

Kemino's smile fell once Gina's focus was back on her work. Was that too much? Technically, it's not really possible to do, eyes that change colors in such a way. What would happen if someone else saw it? Could she pass it off as Gina came up with it? Kemino shut her eyes and took a breath. She really needed to get going.  She exhaled and walked to the far window. She opened it up and started climbing out of it to the nearby tree branch. Once she was on the branch securely, she started closing the window. "Oh before I forget," she said to herself. She stuck her head back into the room. "Gina-chan, I don't know when I'll be back. Go to bed soon so you don’t fall asleep in class again."

"Yes, Mother," Gina said with a groan and her eyes rolling.

Kemino shut the window and quietly made her way down the tall tree. Her eyes hadn't adjusted back to the darkness of night, so it took a little longer than normal, having to feel more for the next branch for her footing. Once on the ground, Kemino started running towards the Night Class' dorms. She didn’t go towards the bridge, instead she went to the east while staying away from the main path and keeping near the trees. 

The fall air was cool and was a welcomed feeling against her skin. It wasn't cold enough to cause the ground the frost over yet. A few fallen leaves were scattered among the grounds and crunched under her feet. She tried to keep her feet light to minimize the noise. Her eyes darted around her surroundings and she strained her ears to hear anything that seemed like someone else was near her. It wouldn't be good if Yuuki or Zero caught her outside.

Unknown to the other Day Class students, it was possible to reach the Moon Dorms without passing either bridges. Nearby the headmaster’s residence was a lake and if you continued to move parallel to it, you’d come to a small river. This area was once used as there was an old stone bridge half in rubble. If you could keep your footing and make precise jumps, you’d be able to cross. Kemino did just that, relying on her past years of doing gymnastics; carefully balancing her way across the loose stone and jumping gaps. The running river underneath bubbled quietly. After the bridge, it was solid ground the rest of the way.

Eventually, she arrived at the Night Class' dorms. Somehow, it felt like it took longer than usual to get there. Maybe it was because of how unnerved she was. It was a single building unlike the Day Class dorms and much older, keeping its original gothic style. The Day Class girl was on the western side of the building, the end where her friend's room was located. As she panted to catch her breath, she could see a few lights through the windows. It dawned on Kemino that she didn't even check to make sure that Takuma would've been back from classes yet.

Kemino shrugged to herself; she was already here so might as well go in. She stretched her arms and jumped in place, getting herself ready. She went to a nearby tree and jumped up to reach for the lowest branch. Grabbing hold of it, she then walked her feet along the truck to get them up as well; now hanging upside down. She adjusted her legs and hips so she could pull herself up to a sitting position on top of the branch. Now upright, she made her way up.  She climbed to the branch that hung high enough for her to reach another tree. She stood on the branch and slowly walked her way across it. The branch moved from her weight, but didn’t threaten to break. Her body shook with each slow step as she kept her head up, focusing on the path in front of her. Her balance was off, a little out of practice. Soon, she was able to leap to the next tree.

The girl looked around to make sure that she hadn't caused a disturbance yet. There were no signs of movement from inside the building and there was nothing, but a few crickets outside. Kemino carefully continued to climb and jump from tree to tree. The jumps weren't too far in distance, but the branches allowed little room for error.  She soon reached her destination; a window on the 3rd floor. She collected her breath, sitting on a branch; flexing her hands to loosen her knuckles back up. She also made sure that her hands didn't get too scuffed up. There was light coming from the window. Kemino opened up the window and climbed in.

The room was empty. It was nearly the same size of the common area in her dorm and with a darker palette tone, fitting for the name Moon Dorm. Right in front of her was a circular table just covered in various stuff; it ranged from shiny rocks to magazines, to boxes with unknown contents. Takuma was a bit of a hoarder, though he claimed he just liked collecting things. Against the far wall were two bookshelves in the corners and two desks in between. To her right was another table with Takuma’s “collection.” To her left were a heater that sat in between her entrance and a second window, and a dresser and an armoire were against the wall.

Kemino stepped down from the window and closed it. She listened to see if the dorm was occupied at all. Not even a creek from the floorboards. The blue haired girl pulled a small face as she walked towards the other end of the room to go to the common area that Takuma shared with his roommate. She walked passed the door to the shared full bathroom, another collection table, his bed, and bookshelves filled with manga. There was a pair of red silk boxers in the middle of the floor. Seeing them made her smile a little; it was the first thing she had made with the fabric and Takuma made it a thing to just leave them out to show them off. Who knew if he had even worn them. 

The door to the common area clicked as she opened it, making her tense up at the sound. The common area was half the size of her’s, making up for the fact the boys had separate rooms. There were two bookshelves to her right and one to her left, along with a “collection” table. In front of the two bookshelves were a couch, two chairs across from it and a long coffee table between.

As she closed the door behind her, a voice came from a couch. "Oh no, we're being robbed," it said in a bored tone.

"Yes, I am here to steal your hearts," Kemino replied with her usual act of a snap and finger guns at the end. The voice on the couch yawned. "Am I interrupting your beauty sleep, Shiki-kun?"

A boy sat up on the couch, looking back at her with an arm over the back of it. His maroon hair was a wild, spiky mess and he looked at Kemino with bored, grey eyes. The shape of his eyes also made him look half asleep. He was still in his school uniform, though it was surprisingly neat for someone who was just laying down. “Not really," Senri Shiki said with a tone that almost sounded as bored as his gaze. "Shouldn't you be the one asleep?"

"You know I can’t stay away from you beautiful boys,” Kemino said with a hint of sarcasm, avoiding eye contact with the boy. “Besides, I told Takuma-kun I’d tell him about the new kid.”

Senri made a noise of acknowledgment. He glanced around the room for a moment. “I think Ichijou’s helping President Kuran with something,” he said, almost as if realizing for himself of his roommate’s absence.

“Oh that poor boy; getting worked to the bone. I don’t know how Kaname-kun manages classes and those dumb Senate reports.”

“Our classes are basically social hours. But if I was in his position I’d tell them to forget it.”

Kemino giggled a little. “That’s true, though I wish that it was with more colorful language.”

“Like what? ‘Fuck off, you old bastards?’”

The Day Class student bent over and covered her mouth to prevent herself from bursting out in laughter. Senri wasn’t one to swear, but when he did, it was magical. “Holy shit, Shiki-kun,” she wheezed out in between stifled laughs.

Senri faintly smiled. He could hear the girl's heartbeat. Though not unusual due to how she traveled here, the rhythm had been off. Now it sounded normal. “Those words naturally require much more effort than others, so they’re a pain to say.”

“That’s fair.” Senri put a hand in front of his mouth as he yawned. "Don't let me keep you up, Shik-kun; you have a shoot in the morning, right?"

He sighed. "It's such a pain when they do them before noon.” The boy got off the couch and started heading to the door that was across the room from Kemino, his bedroom. He had his arms behind his head as he often did. “Ichijou will probably be back soon.”

"Thanks Shiki-kun," Kemino said. "I'll wait for him here."

With Senri out of the room, Kemino was left alone. She sat herself down on the now vacated couch. Normally, she'd pick one out of the scattered manga on the coffee table to read while she waited, but not tonight. She wasn't in the mood to see heroes battle evil. The minutes went by slowly as Kemino stared at the floor, keeping her mind blank as she slowly rocked back and forth. Her eyelids started to feel heavy, but she was scared to close them in case that the nightmare would start again.

Eventually, the sound of the main door opening reached her ears. Kemino slowly looked up and watched as Takuma came around the corner of the entryway. He was wearing a dark sweater over a white button-up, and light dress pants. In his arms was a stack of papers with a magazine tucked in the middle. "Oh, I wasn't expecting you to come by, Kemino-chan," he said.”Otherwise I would’ve been here to greet you.” His voice was sweet and sincere.

Seeing her friend, all of her defenses that she built from when she was in her bed to now instantly crumbled. Her body shook with an audible sob and tears burned in her eyes and quickly ran down her cheeks. "Takuma-kun." she whimpered. All the fear that was welled up inside her bursted out as she started to cry.

Takuma quickly strode across the room, almost throwing the papers on the closest chair, and got down to his knees next to his friend. He put a hand on her lower back to help soothe her. "What's going on?" he asked, his worry apparent in his voice. Kemino tried to stop her sobs to speak, but only made herself hiccup instead. She latched on to him, trying to bury herself into his chest much like she used to years ago; a scared child who had lost everything. Takuma looked at her sadly as he placed his other hand on her head and petted her softly. "I'm right here."

Kemino sobbed in her friend's arms as she tried her best to control her cries to not alert any passersby in the hallway. Her shoulders ached. Each cry made her throat dry up and trying to soothe it by swallowing caused more hiccups. As painful as it was, crying was a huge relief. She always hid these feelings inside her, the helplessness and sorrow, trying to portray herself as a normal teenager. There were some days when she had to force herself out of bed to make it class when she would rather just stay there. The warmth from Takuma's body soothed her. He was her safe haven from the world; being with him was the closest to feeling like home. He was such a bright light. She wanted to bury herself in this comfort. 

After a few slow, agonizing minutes passed, Kemino's cries began to soften. She sniffled and wiped the tears from one side of her face with her sleeve. Her purple eyes looked into the boy's green ones. Concern was very apparent as Takuma looked at her. Slowly, she moved her mouth in an attempt to speak, trying not to resume crying. "T-the nightmare came back." Her voice was shaky. "Of Mom and Dad." Images of bloody bodies crumbled on the ground flashed in her mind. She buried her face back against Takuma's chest. He smelt like honey and oats. "I can feel the bites on my back again."

“That’s a terrible memory to revisit,” Takuma said, continuing to rub her back. “It’s been awhile since the last one.”

“Not since the start of school,” a muffled voice replied.

“Do I need to read you a manga? Make tea? Run you a bath?” There was a hint of a teasing tone in his voice at the last suggestion. 

Kemino weakly smiled against his sweater. “No.”

Takuma pushed her back a little to sit himself on the far end of the couch. Then he pulled her to lay her head in his lap. “Is this alright?” he asked, his hand on her head.

The blue haired girl made a noise of agreement as she turned her face into his leg to hide her embarrassment. This was how he would comfort her back when she started having the nightmares. He would pet her hair until she fell asleep, sometimes reading a story out loud to help keep the nightmares away. It’s been this way for almost five years. Though for Kemino, it felt much more intimate in the last couple of years.

“Sorry for being a mess,” she said after a few minutes of silence. 

"Trauma’s not an easy thing,” Takuma replied. “You're allowed to take as much time as you need.”

“I know. I just feel guilty inconveniencing you.”

“You’re not an inconvenience. I’d rather be able to give you what little comfort I can instead of you suffering alone.”

Kemino could see Takuma with a kind smile out the corner of her eye. “Even if it’s scandalous?” she teased.

He put a finger to his lips. “It’s only scandalous if we get caught.”

She giggled and pushed herself to sit up, wiping away the remaining tears from her face. “Thanks Takuma-kun.” She leaned back into the couch with a content look on her face. Her hand had the urge to reach out to hold his, now sitting on the cushion next to him, but she held it back. 

Takuma glanced at her for a moment before getting up to retrieve his papers and returning to his seat. He shifted through them, deciding on which one either seemed to be the least boring or needed the most attention. He sat with his legs crossed as he started skimming the words. “So how’s your roommate?” the blonde asked his friend.

"She's alright," Kemino said with a small shrug. "Her name's Gina. She spends most of her waking hours drawings. And apparently likes to stay up for the majority of the night; woke up to her asleep at her desk with a pencil in hand this morning. She ended up falling asleep during Fukasae-sensei's class. Her, Yuuki-chan and Zero-kun all got in trouble."

"That explains the eagerness of masses when we were heading to class."

"Yeah. Apparently, Zero-kun had to kick the door down to get them out." Kemino closed her eyes and massaged her temples with her hands. "But there's something off about her. It's a feeling I can't shake off and I don't know why. It's almost the same feeling when I first met you guys."

**_~I’ll also show you a sweet dream next night~_ **


	4. Day Two, Morning

Gina woke up to the sound of various footsteps and murmurs. She groaned as she lifted her head off her pillow; she was laying on her stomach, hugging it. Lazily, she looked around her room with half-opened eyes. Sunlight shone through the thin curtains on the hung over window that was between the two beds. Kemino's bed was empty. The blankets were thrown about. A stuffed, purple bear was laying on its side in the center. She couldn't tell if it was leftover from earlier in the night or if Kemino came back at all.

The pink haired girl yawned as she stretched her back similar to a cat. She grumbled something about how people need to not stomp around and annoy her before she was even out of bed, hearing foot stomping echoing in the ceiling above her. Gina got out of bed as she stretched her limbs. She pulled a curtain to the side, squinting her eyes from the light. Out the window, the sun was just hovering over the natural wall of trees that seemed to surround the grounds; lower than it was yesterday when she got up.

Gina took her time gathering her towel, soap, shampoo, and basic clothing. Then she made her way to the baths to get herself ready. There were a number of girls in the shared space. Some were already clothed and were working on applying make-up and doing their hair. Some spoke about last night's homework and others spoke about their beloved Night Class boys. Laughs and yawns filled in the gaps between voices. Yep, just like any other private school. Along the three walls were multiple sectioned off spaces, some covered with a curtain while others laid bare, showing the empty shower. In the far corner was a sectioned off room, presumably housing a bath.

In the shower, Gina let the hot water run down her body for a few minutes before actually washing herself; letting her pale skin turn red. The shower itself was a 3 foot by 3 foot square, just enough room for a single person. Now where was she supposed to go for class again? Today was her elective day, meaning she couldn't rely on Kemino to show her the way even if she had made it back. Gina sighed to herself under the pouring water; she wasn't ready to be responsible for herself yet. If it was a general class day like yesterday, she'd probably just skip part of the morning. Unfortunately, she actually cared about going to her art classes because they would bring up her average and allow her to not care about the rest.

Once done in the shower, Gina dressed herself in a white camisole and uniform skirt. She had forgotten that her skirt had pockets until she felt something crinkled against her leg. She pulled out the crumbled schedule from yesterday. It seemed like some god somewhere was talking pity on her. The paper listed her classes and noted their assigned rooms. As she headed back to her room, she dried her hair with her towel with one hand as she carried her toiletries in the other.

For breakfast, Gina elected for just toast. She lazily had a slice in her mouth as she went over her drawing from the previous day; darkening up lines to firm up the details. Her uniform was in a neater state than yesterday, today, she decided to button up her jacket to her breast. She had her messenger bag in her lap as she drew; containing three other sketchbooks, her good pencils and colored markers. Her blue eyes glanced around the room. She could see a few students from yesterday's classes grouped together and gossiping. She recognized a few girls from the showers. She could see Yuuki sitting with her roommate. She looked tired, but she was full of energy while she spoke. There was no sign of Kemino.

As she finished the piece of toast, the school bell rang, signaling the start of the day. There seemed to be a general groan in the cafeteria from everyone. Bodies moved to stack their dishes and trays in the assigned areas. Gina did the same, holding her other slice of toast in her mouth. With a small sigh, she put her book and chewed pencil in her bag and walked to class. If she was to believe what her schedule said and if the school was like any of her previous ones, 3-E meant that the class room would be on the second floor. She moved along with the crowd of students as she finished her breakfast; all trying to make their way to class. Even though all she really needed was to find stairs, it was difficult. The one thing Gina absolutely hated about herself was her height; she was barely over five feet tall. Even with the extra height from her heeled boots, all she could see was black uniforms. With a groan, Gina started hopping as she walked along in an attempt to see over the numerous other students. She could feel the weird stares behind her, but didn't care. 

Soon, she saw a speck of white that floated above the sea of black. It was Zero Kiryuu and he was walking up a set of stairs. Gina maneuvered her way through the crowd, an advantage of her small size, in the direction she saw the boy. She made it to the two sets of stairs with a small victory dance in her head. At the top, she was at the end of the hallway. She sighed as she started making her way down the hall because of course she would end up on the farthest end from her class. As she walked, she was several steps behind the white haired discipline committee member. He didn't have the white discipline armband on. Gina watched, waiting for him to turn into any of the classrooms they were walking by. A small feeling of dread started to weigh on her. Zero turned into a classroom. Her stomach fell slightly. The sign above it said 3-E. 

There was a fraction of students in the room compared to the lecture room from yesterday, 11 compared to 32. Five large tables were spread out, each with four chairs where most the students gathered together except for one white haired boy sitting alone. Each table had two tin cans stripped of any labeling and holding some number of pencils; some plain, some colored, some without a tip, etc. As she entered the room, some heads turned to her as if expecting someone. She didn't recognize any of the other students, other than Zero. There was a faint whisper of "new girl" making its way through the room. Gina went and sat in an empty chair at the only empty table.

Shortly after she sat down, another person entered the room. It was a fairly tall man with dark hair. It was like a lump of floof. His skin was extremely tan compared to the fair skinned students. He wore square-shaped glasses over his dark eyes and was wearing a light blue button-down with the sleeves rolled up and black pants. The man looked tired as he held a thermos in both hands while walking to the teacher's desk.

"Buongiorno," he said, holding back a yawn. He leaned against the desk, half sitting on its edge. "Sorry for being late. Hope your week is going well." His voice was kind and he had an accent that Gina never heard. "For today's warm up, the theme is apocalyptic."

Gina glanced around and saw that the other students had identical notebooks. They took pencils from the cans in the middle of the desks. She pulled a face realizing that she was left out. The teacher took a long drink from his thermoses as he looked around the room. He saw Gina and went to the other side of his desk and took out a notebook from a drawer. He came over to her, leaning against the edge of the table next to the pink haired girl.

"Yukimura-kun, correct?" he asked.

"Yeah?" Gina replied.

"Glad to meet you," he said. "I'm Leo Di Nelli. The headmaster has told me a lot about your passion. I’m excited to see what you can do." Gina felt her face heat up a little; she wasn’t used to upfront praise from a teacher. He set down the notebook in front of her. "Here's your journal. We do warm-up activities usually for about 20 minutes at the start of class and you'll do them in that. It's to help get your creative juices flowing before working on the main project. Be sure to bring it to every class."

"Sounds good."

Gina quickly pulled her pencil out from her bag rather than taking one from the can on the table and started quickly sketching. She outlined a destroyed cityscape with the point of view low to the ground and angled up. The room was filled with sounds of lead on paper and slight crunching of paper. Soft footsteps wandered around the room. Tall skyscrapers were broken and crumbling down. The ground was bare with dirt. Under a piece of rubble in the lower left, there was a single small growing plant.

"Alright, that's enough," Di Nelli said with a clap, standing next to his desk. There was a rustle in the room as the students put their pencils down, though Gina stuck her's in her mouth as she often does; setting her sharp canine in a previously made crater. "Let's get started on the new project. It's going to be a bit different than what we've done before. Typically art is done as a single person activity, but there are times of collaboration to blend styles and themes. Or just to bounce around ideas." There were small murmurs of displeasure and confusion throughout the class. "Today, we'll assign partners and you will be working together to create a piece as a project for the rest of the semester. For class, you’ll be practicing portraits of each other. Try to get as much details as you can to use this as a reference."

Gina's eyes narrowed in dissatisfaction of this. Art was always her escape from interacting with people. Her eyes circled the room. Since she didn't know anyone, it was hard to figure out if anyone was more desirable than the other. Though, she'd probably prefer not Zero since he'd just glare at her as he has the last two days of knowing her.

"Partners will be randomly assigned," Di Nelli continued. "Please come up when your name is called. I'll hand you a slip with your partner's name, then go and sit with them. "

One by one students went up as they were called. Pairs were narrowing down. Soon only everyone was paired up except for two. The last two students that were still sitting by themselves on opposite sides of the room: Gina and Zero. Both teenagers had a pitfall in their stomachs.

"Kiryuu-kun, Yukimura-kun, looks like you're the last ones. Please get together and start work." Both teens' eyes darted between each other and Di Nelli as if they didn't believe him. He gave a small wave with a hand to signal for them to get together.

Gina sighed, picked up her stuff, and went over and sat across from Zero. Predicatively, his eyes were narrowed. She gave him a look of her own. "I'm not happy about it either, bud," she said as she took the pencil out of her mouth. She put the class book in her bag and pulled out a sketchbook with a white cover, opening it to a blank pair of pages. This was going to be a long morning. Gina leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed and studied her model.

Zero Kiryuu. He was a foot taller than the pink haired girl. Age unknown. First year based on him being in her classes. White hair that was long enough to almost cover his eyes and ears, longer in the back. In his left ear, he had a silver clasp piercing that was held with three small hoops at the top of his ear. And in his right, one silver hoop that spiraled twice, making it look like two in his lobe. His bangs were divided into three main sections, which allowed him to see. Lavender eyes that were almost constantly narrowed that somehow look familiar to her. His brows often furrowed. His facial expressions so far were anger, irritation, and boredom. The tone of his voice usually matched whatever emotion was on his face. His face was on the sharp side with a strong jawline. Also, he was clean shaven; it was difficult to tell if he even grew facial hair due to how smooth his skin looked. He also apparently has muscle built up under his loose uniform, given that he kicked down a chained set of doors yesterday and from the width of his shoulders. Speaking of which, he also did not care much for his look much like her: the jacket was undone and his red tie was loose around his neck, missing the tie chain that had the academy's symbol on, and his white button-up was also not done all the way up.

There were bits of black on the left side of his neck peeking past his loose collar. Some spots looked like circles and others just plain lines. Gina stood up and reached out to move the obstruction. Zero quickly grabbed her wrist just as she started to touch the cloth. His lavender eyes were narrowed, more intensely than before. What was the look in his eyes? Anger or hate?

"What?" she asked before he could tell her off, giving him a glare of her own. "I want to get a full shot of your tattoo." Zero held his glare and kept hold of her wrist. "Oh, bite me. And stop glaring, it’s rude and ruins your pretty eyes."

Zero was taken aback slightly by her choice of words. It wasn't every day that one of the Day Class girls talked back to him, other than Yuuki. They usually were too scared to even talk to him. And she also complimented his looks in the same sentence? He closed his eyes and took a breath, then sighed in defeat. Letting go of her, he tilted his head slightly and pulled his collar to the side. Gina stared at the marking on his neck. The boy was uncomfortable with her eyes on him as his nerves were already on edge. Her blue eyes had a sparkle of curiosity, obsessed with detail, as they took in the details of his neck.

Zero's neck was well defined, going along with the theory that he was well toned, with an average sized adam’s apple. The tattoo was all black of what looked like a symbolic crest. It resembled a cross; the four ends were diamond shaped with the five outer points extended out. The inner ends of the diamonds created a diagonal tic-tac-toe board. At the four empty points, where there wasn't a diamond, were four daggers with the blade tips pointed towards the center. Gina drew the design on its own in the corner of her paper. She squinted her eyes back and forth from the tattoo and her copy. She wanted to make sure that she got every detail. Each line needed to be the right thickness and turn into the right, thin point. The spacing needed to be even. The viewer had to be able to see how the dagger blade indented before the hilt.

The boy watched her out of the corner of his eye. Gina Yukimura. The newest student in the Day Class. Her body was small, similar to Yuuki's, though her breasts were at least a cup size bigger. He noted that her uniform wasn’t buttoned all the way nor did she wear the school-issued necklace, leaving her neck bare. She periodically would go from looking at him to her paper, scribbling the design. While her head was down, she brushed the long strands of pink hair on the left side of her face behind her ear. He wondered how she could see with the hair that was in front of her face. From the style, he would guess that she had cut it herself. It looked like it was naturally straight. Sometimes when she glanced back up, she would bite on the end of her pencil. The upper half was completely covered with bite marks, probably because she kept sticking it in her mouth. She primarily bit it with her unnaturally sharp canines, which enforced his uneasy feeling about her. Her eyes were a rich shade of blue, almost like the sea; they were almond shaped, much less round then most other girls’. So far, he had only seen her with a disinterested look on her face; save for when he saw her speaking with Kemino about whatever she had doodled in class. This was the most focus she has been. 

He still didn’t like her; she looked innocent enough, but she felt so much like one of them, The headmaster couldn't be that stupid, right? But then again, she was rooming with the only Day Class student other than he and Yuuki that knew the truth. The longer he debated in his head, the more his stomach felt sick. "Hurry it up," Zero said, irritated both at his thoughts and his current pose.

"Hold on," Gina mumbled as she continued her work. Her voice sounded far off as she was focused on her task. Another few silent seconds. She looked up from her paper. "Can you turn so I can get a better look at your piercings?"

Zero straightened his neck and set his hand down, her words indicating that she was finished with his tattoo. He obliged, turning his head to the side. It only took her a minute before Gina waved her hand to have him turn the other way.

"So how did a delinquent like you get to be on the disciplinary committee?" Gina asked with a small smirk as she drew.

Zero raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well, your uniform for one thing, the piercings, and the tattoo. You don’t look like a model student."

"You're one to talk about uniforms," he replied.

Gina shrugged. "It’s stuffy; and I'm lazy." She leaned back into her chair with her arms crossed. "Got anything other physical details that I need to know about?"

Again, Zero was taken by surprise. The blunt delivery of her words made him feel slightly violated. "Excuse me?"

"What? Di Nelli said to get  _ all _ the details."

Zero rolled his eyes, his brows narrowed. "No. Now it's your turn to stay still."

Gina stifled a laugh. "Good luck with that. I still have to draw your portrait; I just got the small details." The two stared at each other, mentally pushing their will on the other. The girl, with a snarky smile, slowly raised up a hand and flipped the boy off. Then, she went back to drawing.

Zero sighed, decided that this was all he was going to get. As much as he already despised the girl, arguing wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He outlined Gina's body as she was hunched over her own work. He could barely see her eyes at the angle her head was at, mainly her lashes. They were full, a shade darker than her hair. Her eyebrows, mostly covered by her hair, were naturally thin. As she drew, Gina nibbled on her bottom lip with her front teeth deliberately; presumably because she didn't have a second pencil to put in her mouth. It was a lazy motion. Her focus on her work was actually somewhat adorable.

Silence fell on the pair as they worked. GIna would look up at Zero for proportions once in a while, due to having most of the boy's feature's memorized. Zero looked back up at the small girl every few minutes. Sometimes their eyes would meet and Gina would give a small sneer, as if mimicking the boy's typical expression. The room was filled with the sound of scraping lead. It would be the sound of lullabies if it wasn’t interrupted by the various students in the classroom that were chatting to one another. They were actually taking turns drawing each other, unlike the silent pair; chatting about what was going on with their other classes, or what they recently heard was going on at home. They knew who each other was. Most of the other students have been attending the academy since elementary school. 

The white haired boy glanced back at his model. She wasn't looking down at her paper. The pink haired girl was leaning back in her chair, her head turned and looking towards one of the windows in the room, and her pencil in her mouth. Suspicion was still at the back of his mind. She seemed normal, but those  _ fangs _ . Just who was she?

"So," Zero started off, "why are you here?" He needed to choose his words carefully to get the information he wanted.

Gina blinked, the boy's voice breaking her out her small trance. She looked at him with her blue eyes, puzzled by his seemingly sudden curiosity. "Uhh, because my parents didn't want me home anymore I guess," she replied, her words muffled by her pencil. Zero gave her an unsatisfied look. She sighed, taking her pencil in hand. "It just happened. Cross came over for the first time in like a year to visit. And I assume, like always, he was all ‘Gina should enroll in my school. It would be awesome.’ Mom and Dad usually tell him no, but not this time." The girl gave a small shrug. "They must have been sick of having me home after getting expelled from the last one."

Zero tilted his head slightly in curiosity. “Expelled?”

“Too many detentions topped up with a fight.”

"So you only got in because of connections?"

"Sounds dirty when you say it that way.” Gina put her attention back on her page, but didn’t resume drawing; her fingers were tense around her pencil. “But Cross has wanted me here since I was a kid. Mom said that they used to work together before her and Dad got married. He liked talking about his adoptive daughter a lot. Never said he had you too."

Zero was taken aback by her answer, hiding his surprise by looking down at his sketch of the girl. Of all the possible answers, that was one he did not expect at all. Because that means… But then why does she…? He needed more information. "What kind of work did your mom do?"

Gina pulled a face as she thought. "She never told me what her official title was," she said. "It was police work or something. She said she used to solve kidnappings and homicides and she has a handgun that she keeps in her room; so she would have been a detective right?"

"How do you not know what your mom did for a job?"

"It was never a topic of discussion." Gina erased a few stray lines from her work and blew away the filings. "Dad has a lot of money from his side of the family, so he’s never worked. Mom quit her job just before I was born." Zero gave a noise of acknowledgement. The girl tilted her head slightly and looked at him. His sudden curiosity confused her. "So, what about you? How’d you end up here as Cross’ quote-unquote son?"

Zero's jaw clenched at the question. He didn't think this through. "First of all I’m not his son, never have or will be officially adopted by him,” he said with a growl. “And similar to you: the headmaster knew my parents." If she really didn’t know what her mother actually did, then that’s all she needed to know.

“Small world.” Gina set down her pencil. “Wonder if Mom knew them.” She looked in the tin can in the center of the table. Zero watched her curiously. The girl gave a groan, unsatisfied with the contents of the can. She looked around the room until she saw whatever she was looking for. She walked to another side to the room, to a large box on a shelf, filled with color pencils.

Zero watched as she dug through the box to get the colors she wanted. He took notice that only one of her socks was pulled up to her knee and the other had fallen to just above the top of her boot. Her legs seemed average, but long despite her short height. The elevation from her boots’ heels also gave her an extra two inches.

Then he glanced down at the girl’s work, wondering if she had completed her drawing. In one corner there were detailed drawings of his tattoo and piercings, all large enough that the piercings were life-sized and the tattoo was larger than a fist. The rest of the page was taken up by a bust portrait of himself with his usual scowl. The overall style was realistic with bold outlines. The details were scratchy with several short lines on top of one another, mostly for the hair and clothing. The eyes were there with a stern look, but absent of any pupils. She had small notes written in blank spaces, her writing very boxy, using lines and right angles.

Gina returned to the table with a handful of various shades of purple pencils. In a blank area on the page, she made blotches of each color and labeled them with the color name. She then looked up at Zero. Her blue eyes stared into his with an intimidating sparkle that made him uncomfortable, much like her blunt tone from earlier. After a number of slow seconds, she marked certain shades with a star. Then the pink haired girl discarded the unmarked colors to the far side of the table and kept the others close to her. She stuck her personal pencil into her mouth and started coloring in the eyes of her drawing. With her attention off him, Zero resumed his own work.

Gina nibbled on the end of her pencil, helping her focus on her task. She started with the lightest shade and then worked her way to the darker ones. As she colored, her biting on her pencil got more and more intense as she pulled an unsatisfied face. Plain lavender eyes stared up at her. Something was missing. They didn’t speak the same way his did. She looked back up at her subject.

Zero was looking down at his drawing. Thanks to her height (for once) Gina could see his downcast lavender eyes. There was a certain glint in them that she couldn’t figure out. It wasn’t emptiness. Lost? Longing? Sadness? Pain? Whatever it was, Gina wanted to capture it; perfectly. She carefully worked to recreate her model’s eyes. Each movement from her wrist and knuckles were deliberate. She utilized each color she had picked out. She filled the pupil in with her normal lead pencil. Then she scratched off a little bit of the colored pencil to blend it with the normal lead. 

Gina glanced up again to compare her work to the source. She proudly smiled to herself, pleased with the result. Zero had his head resting on his hand, propped up by his elbow on the table and his eyes looking down at his paper. Curiously, her eyes traveled down to see her partner’s work.

The top half of Zero’s page was a collection of messy written notes. Not much of a surprise due to Gina not being the most cooperative model. At the bottom of the page where he was working, he had an outline of Gina bent over her work. The style was difficult to describe; she would consider it something of a mix between fluid and ephemeral. Whispy? He used only a few lines and it lacked most details, however shading was used to give shape to her hair and face. She could see that the tip of his pinky on his drawing hand darken with lead, indicating that it was his blending tool.

Gina had her eyes on the tip of his pencil until she realized it stopped moving. Her blue eyes moved up to see him staring at her. He had a relaxed expression, the scowl gone from his eyes for once. It was almost like his face gave off a calming effect, the sight almost loosening her unconsciously tense shoulders. The two teens stared at each other for a few seconds. A feeling of deja vu shivered down Gina’s spine. Zero blinked once and then wrote another messy note on his paper.

Suddenly a loud sharp clap brought her back to reality. Gina was about to cuss out the source of the noise, but the teacher’s voice filled the room “Alright class,” De Nelli said, “we have a few minutes before the bell. For this week’s assignment, I want you to use your reference to draw what you believe your partner looked like, oh, let’s say five years ago.” There was a murmur of confusion in the room. De Nelli just smiled warmly at his students.

Just as foretold, the bell soon rang throughout the building. Gina sat still in her seat as the other students started to move about. This wasn’t fair. She had just met Zero; hell, they just had their first conversation. Everyone else seemingly knew each other. Maybe Kemino could help her since she’s been at the school longer. What class did she have again? Did she even make it? Theater? That sounds right.

“Hey, Kiryuu,” Gina said, causing the boy to stop as he passed by her, “do you know where the theater area is? I want to meet SaiJin for lunch.”

Zero sighed to himself. He’d much rather be done with the girl for the day. He resumed his path out the door. “Come on.”

Zero led Gina back down to the first floor of the academy and to the furthest end of the building. They were silent as they walked. Other students were passing by them going the opposite way. As he walked, Zero held himself straight with his hands in his pockets, his sketchbook resting in between his wrist and side. Gina assumed that he probably had a neutral expression with his eyes slightly narrowed.She walked briskly behind him to keep him in sight with her hands on the strap of her bag and her pencil tucked away in her pocket. Eventually they reached their destination. It looked like any other entrance to a classroom with an open single wooden door. Gina gave Zero a small thanks and walked into the room. 

Despite the bell having rung minutes ago, there were still a number of students in the work room; mostly girls with one or two boys. The room was filled with the smell of cut fabric, almost like a pleasant dust. One half of the room was taken up with large tables that some students had large sheets of fabric spread out. The other had three rows of sewing machines built into tables with a three foot space in between them. There were a few machines that seemed alien to Gina that apparently had to do with sewing. 

Kemino wasn’t difficult to find. Her blue hair stuck out among the mundane colors of the room. She was sitting down at one of the many sewing machines that lined one end of the far wall. She was pushing a pile of fabric through the machine as the noise clashed with the voices of the other students.

“SaiJin,” Gina called across the room as she walked toward her. The blue haired girl jumped at the sound of her name and her machine stopped moving. She turned to see her roommate and smiled. There was a faint whisper as the other students were taken aback that someone came down to see her. Kemino ignored the questioning looks, finished up her seam, and then got up from her work station with the fabric in her arms. 

The two girls met in the middle of the room. “What’s up, Gina-chan?” Kemino asked. Parts of her hair stuck out due to its shaggy layers and due to one side being tucked behind her ear. There was a shadow under her eyes, indicating that she didn’t get much sleep during her overnight visit. The fabric in her arms was a deep red and it looked to be a heavy long skirt.

“Food,” Gina replied.

Kemino giggled at her blunt response. It almost made her seem like a child and reminded her of her younger siblings. “Oh right, the bell rang. You know you could’ve just met me at the cafeteria.”

“Wanted to see how you were doing. And I need to complain about class.”

“Did you get in trouble again already?”

“No, worse. The teacher gave us a group project and I’m stuck with Kiryuu.”

“Zero-kun isn’t the worst option. Wait, he draws?”

Gina’s eyes lit up. “He has a really neat style. I mean, I don't know if it's his real one because I was a bit of a bitch and didn’t model properly. But it's similar to how people depict ghosts with faded lines and most of the details are portrayed with shadows. It actually kinda fits him since he seems a little detached from everyone else. I wonder what it looks like when he draws big enough for the details to be visible.” She spoke with excitement, which was a first for Kemino to hear from the pink haired girl. Her words were quick, obviously a train of thought, but it showed how she admired the work she got to see.

Kemino laughed. “Alright, alright. Let me pack my bag and you can tell me about your crush as we walk.”

“What crush? What, him? Absolutely not; dude’s a dick.”

The blue haired girl just smiled as she went back to where she was sitting to pack up her materials into a nearby duffle bag: the fabric in her arms and pieces that were cut, pins and thread. Then she led the way to the cafeteria as Gina gave her a summary of her class.

Once inside the lunch room, Gina quickly maneuvered her way to the food, barely with a word to her roommate. Kemino just sighed to herself with a shake of her head; it really did seem like that girl had a one track mind. She surveyed the area to try and find an area for them to sit. As her eyes scanned the room, she saw a certain white haired boy; his looking down at the table. 

Kemino made her way over to him. “So, I heard that you and Gina-chan had a fun class,” she said with a friendly smile.

Zero looked up from the sketch book he was bent over. On the page Kemino could see a light sketch of her roommate. The boy sighed to himself. “I wouldn’t call it that.”

“Oh, she was right, you do have a neat style.” Zero rolled his eyes at her comment. “Hey, I’m trying to compliment you,” Kemino said with crossed arms. 

“Do you need something?” he asked, obviously annoyed with her distracting him.

“Just being friendly,” she smiled. The girl’s purple eyes looked around the room, surveying how close other students were to their proximity. She shifted her arms slightly to hold herself and leaned in closer to the older boy. "Do you think something's off about Gina-chan?" she asked in a hushed tone.

Zero’s own eyes glanced around the room with his brows together. It can't be a good sign if Kemino was noticing something; she was the only other Day class student that knew the truth. "I can’t tell," he said with a slight growl, mostly because he didn't know. "Shitty attitude though."

"Werewolves aren't a thing, right?"

He sighed. "No."

"Okay good." Kemino gave an animated sigh of relief and she stood up straight. "Just covering my bases."

"What bases?" Gina's voice piped in, causing Kemino to jump. The other two teens turned to see that the pink haired girl was now standing near her roommate with a plate of food. She stood about two inches shorter than Kemino even with her extra heels. 

"Oh, just comparing some answers from yesterday's assignment," Kemino said quickly.

Gina raised an eyebrow, not fully believing the blue haired girl's response. Kemino responded to the look with a smile and a thumbs up. Zero's expression was neutral and turned his attention back to his drawing. Gina rolled her eyes at them, sat down at a nearby table and began to eat.

**_~I’ll also show you a sweet dream next night~_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to send out a huge thank you to those that have read this so far and to those that have left comments. Just seeing the hit count go ups helps motivate me when I'm stuck. I know I skipped last month, but I want to try and do monthly updates, though it is a bit difficult with a full time job and being an adult (and considering where the actual Vampire Knight story went lol). Hope you guys are enjoying this so far.


	5. Day Two, Afternoon

Gina's afternoon class wasn't as eventful as the morning's. There were different, older students in her painting class. Zero wasn't among them. Di Nelli spent the class lecturing on styles and how different styles of the same thing could cause different interpretations of theme. He wrote on a chalkboard in a stiff manner and pulled out posters of examples. Instead of paying attention and taking notes like the rest of the class, Gina sat alone staring out a nearby window.

Her mind was trying to figure out what she was going to about the stupid assignment from her previous class. She had forgotten to ask Kemino if she knew anything about Zero, mostly due to him sitting nearby during lunch; he seemed like the type of person that wouldn’t appreciate being talked about like he wasn’t there. It didn’t make much sense to her to try and draw a younger version of someone she just met. Though the teacher probably just wanted to see if the students understood how the face changes with age. Or it was just busy work. She sighed to herself.

She sat where she was in the previous class, a bit off to be side of the room and alone. Right in her field of view, was a large window. Outside the widow, the sky was a clear blue. There was a tree branch in perfect view; if someone wanted to, they could easily get on it from the window. The leaves had started to fade, their green coloring losing saturation and turning brown and yellow. At the base of the branch where it stems off the trunk, which was on the left side, was a messy bird's nest, made up of various twigs and faded blades of grass. Sitting in the nest was your everyday sparrow. The small bird was obvious to the fact it was being watched, its restless head looking in the other direction. 

Gina quietly took out her green sketchbook from her bag and turned to a clean page. Lead scratched against the paper, starting to recreate the scene she saw. The sound of the class room faded for her. First the bird, its shape and feathers, shading in its color in black and white, in case it flew off. She had its head looking to the right of the page, looking off in the distance. Then the mess of sticks and grass that it called home. The branch it rested on. Next, the section of trunk that was visible. Then the leaves. And finally the small details in the far background, such as clouds and the distant spot that was the Night Class dorms. 

Now to add in the textures. 

“Yukimura-kun.”

The stern voice brought Gina back inside the art room. She looked up from her work to the source of the voice and saw Di Nelli standing nearby her. He had his arms crossed and a defeated look on his face; his glasses were low on his nose. Then she noticed that the rest of the room was empty.

“I do have to admire your focus on your craft,” her teacher said in his foreign accent, “but you do need to pay attention to your surroundings.”

Gina’s eyes went back and forth between her drawing and teacher. “Class was boring,” she said with a bit of a shrug.

“I can see that. I will try and make it more interactive for you next time.” His tone was fairly gentle, very different from how Gina was used to teachers lecturing her. Di Nelli sat himself next to her and pushed his glasses up his nose. “Your landscape work seems to be spot on. The bird is one hundred percent, but the rest is lacking details?”

“The bird could have flown off. Everything else stays where it is. Shadows are easy since I know where the light source is.”

The man nodded at her explanation. “I like it.”

Gina couldn’t help but grin to herself, full of pride. She reached into her bag and took out three other sketchbooks. She pushed the one with white cover and the one with the black cover towards her teacher. “This one is portraits, mostly using a model,” she said pointing to the white one, “and this one’s more of stuff that I do from the top of my head.”

“And that one?” Di Nelli asked, pointing at the smaller book with a brown cover.

The girl hesitated for a moment; she didn’t mean to take that one out. “Dreams,” she said after a short mental debate. She put a hand to the side of her neck. “Abstract dreams.” The man sat up a little straighter than he was, his interest peaked. “Just colors that I see from them. I started recording them to see if I could ever piece them together.” At least that was all he needed to know. Gina opened the book to its most recent entry: most of it was a blend of yellow and grey with two lavender orbs in the center of the page and a black blob underneath them. She let his eyes wonder the page for a moment before closing the book and putting it back into her bag.

“Interessante” Di Nelli said to himself. He gave her a small smile. “I don’t have to lock up for a while. Do you mind if I take a look at these as you work?” He motioned to the black and white books.

“Go ahead.” The pink haired girl turned her attention back to her work.

Neither of the two spoke. Gina continued drawing at the table while Di Nelli flipped through her previous sketches, taking notes on the techniques and styles he saw. She eventually turned to another page to replicate the scene but in a different season. When the sky changed from blue to orange, the teacher got up from his desk, gathering his belongings. He set her books next to her, praising her skills. With a small sigh she packed up her belongings into her bag, wishing she had more time to sit here. She and the teacher bid each other a good-bye and went their separate ways in the hall.

The light was fading through the windows as the sun lowered under the horizon. As a Day Class student, Gina probably shouldn’t be out at this time. She walked through the empty halls, making her way down the stairs. Her footsteps from her heeled boots echoed against the walls, giving off an eerie atmosphere. She was confident that she would be able to find her way back to the dorm with no problems. If Yuuki or Zero gave her crap, she had Di Nelli to prove her alibi of staying late. 

For an unbeknownst reason, the pink haired girl turned back to look at the staircase. Like most of the school, the thick, wooden railing had a gothic style to it. Gina walked to the side as she admired the design. The wood was dark and the beams were similar to a window pane in a church; making curved archways at the top and having columns that reminded her of a candle holder. At the bottom, the posts came up to her shoulders and were topped with a curved cone. Inspiration struck her again. She bit her bottom lip with her front teeth as she traced over the shape of the wooden beams with a finger, trying to commit the smaller shape and details to her memory. The wood was smooth from its dark finish. She thought that the headmaster must have some damn good cleaners to keep even the staircases this good.

Gina then walked to the other end of the hall and sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. She had her legs pulled up to use as a desk she took her black sketchbook out of her bag and into her lap. Her fingers flipped through the pages as she found the drawing that she did yesterday; the vampire in his bedchambers after a meal. Leaving a finger on the page, she flipped to a blank page and started working. 

First, she drew the staircase in front of her. She would periodically glance back up at her reference to make sure the spacing between the beams were correct and that each step was in the right spot. Once the basic sketch was done, she moved onto the details that were carved into the wood. With the setting complete, the vampire came next. He was on the staircase, walking down. His lips curved to a charismatic smile. An arm was extended, as if bidding the viewer to take his hand. Instead of dressing him in an elegant dress shirt, she put him in a loose poet shirt. He had just woken up to greet his guest. She would flip back to her original drawing to make sure that the two pictures had the same features.

Now it was time to give the hall some character, give this vampire more of a story. She flipped to the previous drawing and looked over the bed she had made. She had made the bed the main attraction, not leaving much room for the walls. The only other furniture in view was a fraction of a bedside table. Gina frowned to herself, annoyed that she had little to work with. She went back to her current drawing with a bit of a shrug, deciding that she might as well go with a bit of a cliche. In the white space on the right side of the page, she outlined a portion of a large portrait, mostly clothing. Then around that portrait needed to be an elegant frame.

“What’s a Day class student doing in here?” an annoying voice called out. 

The voice broke Gina out of her concentration, bringing her back to the real world. The halls were darker than earlier, everything covered in a dark blue filter. Before she could even turn, she felt a foreboding weight on her body. The same feeling as when she saw the Night Class the previous night. She swallowed the nervous lump in her throat as she looked at the source of the voice. Maybe Di Nelli was right about her needing to pay more attention to her surroundings.

Down the hall was a crowd of white uniformed students, led by Kaname Kuran. They all had their eyes on her, most pairs narrowed. There was a boy not too far from Kaname with messy blonde hair that seemed to have been combed back and his bright blue eyes were even visible in the dim light. The unimpressed look on his face indicated that he was the one who spoke. 

Despite the fear in her chest, Gina did her best to remain calm. “Drawing,” she said with a sneer in her voice as she stretched her neck. She kept the group of students in the corner of her eye. “I must’ve lost track of time.”

“That doesn’t sound very convincing to me,” the blonde boy replied. 

Gina lowered her eyes as she stood up. “Are you fucking kidding?” she called across the hall. She held up her sketchbook in one hand and had the other on her hip. “I had this in my lap and I was obviously working on it. What else could I have been doing? Not waiting for you to interrupt me, I can tell you that.”

The boy looked like he was going to say something in retaliation, but before he could another blonde boy put his hand on his shoulder. Gina recognized him as Kemino’s friend Takuma. He smiled with his eyes closed as he spoke, “Now, now, Aidou; Gina-chan is still new, so she’s not used to the rules.” 

“That’s right,” Kaname joined in. “Let’s not be rude to our fellow student. Instead of being accusatory, we should be welcoming and lending a hand.”

“My apologies Kaname-sama,” the blonde, Aidou, replied, though his voice didn’t seem very sincere. His words made Gina raise her eyebrow.

“Now we should get to class before we’re all late,” Kaname continued, addressing the other white clothed students. “Ichijou, can you help our friend find her way out?”

“I’ll be fine on my own,” Gina said while putting her sketchbook and pencil into her bag. She started walking towards where she remembered the exit being, in the direction of the Night Class. “And I’m not your friend.”

“I insist,” the tall brunette said. “The discipline committee might think you’re up to some trouble otherwise.” His lips were curved into a smile, but even across the hall, Gina could see that it didn’t match the way his dark eyes looked at her. His voice was kind, but it felt like he was threatening her. Maybe it was the overall suffocating presence getting to her. Then he started walking down the hall. The rest of the Night Class followed suit, save for Takuma who stood where he was. 

Gina held her breath as she and the white uniformed students passed each other. Up close, even in the dark hall, she could see that each of them had flawless, pale skin. Their hair of various shades and length seemed to glisten in the moonlight that shone through the windows. Each of their individual features, cheekbones, eyebrows, nose shapes, height, and the like were all perfected for each individual. They were all frighteningly beautiful. Individually they gave her a look over, some scoffing and others shrugging.

Her steps didn’t slow even as she got closer to Takuma, listening to the chorus of other footsteps fade. She let out a small sigh of relief as the majority of the foreboding feeling left her. Takuma fell into step next to her as she passed by him. As they walked, Gina glanced at the older boy. He was a foot taller than her, a little taller than Zero. His blonde hair was neatly kept, though some strands seemed to have a mind of their own. His green eyes matched his kind smile. His white uniform was in pristine condition. She noticed that the black lining had an extra decal of a “V” at the corners and shoulders. There was still an uneasy feeling in her stomach, but not as intense as before.

They soon made it to the exit. Takuma opened the door and bid Gina a good night. She reciprocated with a wave of her hand as she walked through the door. The air outside was chilly, not cold enough to see her breath. After a couple of steps, she heard the door behind her close. With each step the uneasy feeling she had faded. She definitely didn’t like those students. When she reached the fountain at the intersection to the dorms, she was so tempted to look around to see how the buildings looked in the moonlight with the accompanying silence. However, Gina kept her eyes on the path to avoid getting distracted again.

She made it past the stone bridge and to the dorm without a fuss. Inside the building though, she was met with a small group of girls in the entryway. They were gathered together on a couch and a chair around a table, presumably studying. They weren’t anyone from her classes, but one girl looked vaguely familiar. Before any of them could say something about her late arrival, Gina just said “detention,” walked past and up the stairs. 

Finally back to her room, Gina let out a yawn. She sat at her desk and took off her boots, her feet sore from the arch of her boots. Kemino was nowhere to be seen nor was there a greeting being called from the other room. With a small shrug and sigh to herself, Gina took out her black and white sketchbooks. Opening the black book, she looked over her earlier drawing with her pencil in hand. She took a breath to regain her focus and transport herself back into that hall. Her pencil resumed drawing the grand picture frame she had started and then added a candelabra on the wall to light the scene. With the base sketch completed, she went over the line work to make it more defined and added in additional details.She stared at the sketch for several minutes; unable to decide how she wanted to complete it. Should she color it or shade it in black and white? Or maybe do what she did with the last one and have it black and white with a single color? 

With a growl of irritation, she moved the book to the side of her desk. She’ll probably think of something after working on something else. Gina opened her white book to the portrait of Zero she had done in class. She leaned on the desk with her left arm propping up her head. Her eyes stared at it for several minutes. A finger delicately traced over the boy’s features. She pulled a face as her eyes seemed to struggle with what she was looking at. There was something familiar about him, yet she was certain she had never seen him before coming to the Academy. Also, he wasn’t this good looking, right? Gina slapped her face with her free hand to get herself to focus. Again, she studied her work, her eyes on his, absorbing the detail. Then she turned the page and started to work. 

She filled the page with eyes, trying to recreate its unique gleam in black and white. There was a plain pain, another lowered in anger, another wide in surprise, and more. Once content with the practice, she moved to the blank page on the right. Gina sectioned out the page into six boxes and labeled each with a different expression: neutral, happy, sad, angry, laughing, and shock. In each box she drew Zero with the matching expression. 

“Oh, hey there,” Kemino’s voice said. “What’s with all the Zeros?” Gina looked up from her work and saw her roommate standing over her in fresh pajamas and a towel over her blue hair. She had a v-neck t-shirt with green, blue and white stripes running horizontally and solid blue shorts. Her skin was a light pink. 

“Practice,” Gina replied with a small sigh.

“Is that because of the ‘stupid’ assignment you have to do?” Kemino asked. She rubbed her head with the towel with one hand and pointed to the left page with the other. “Why so much focus on the eyes?”

Gina leaned back in her chair, staring off in thought for a moment. “They’re neat,” she said. She turned the page back to the portrait she drew in class. “I like the color. It goes well with his hair. And there’s something about them.” Kemino tilted her head at the pink haired girl’s explanation. “They look like he’s experienced something... painful, I think.” She traced over a specific area of shading with her finger. “It's hard to tell with his scowl, but there’s this specific gleam here.”

“Huh, I guess so,” Kemino said, looking over Gina’s shoulder. She thought to herself that Gina had some sharp eyes to notice that; hopefully, she won’t pay too much attention to her. As she thought that, she noticed that Gina was now staring at her. Kemino dried her hair more with her towel as she squirmed under her roommate’s gaze. “What?”

“Are you and Kiryuu related?” the pink haired girl asked. Now it was Kemino’s turn to stare. She blinked a few times, taken aback from the innocent question. “You have similar eye color.”

The standing girl laughed. “Us? Not that I know of. If we were, it involves way too many cousins and marriages.” 

Gina nodded slightly, bringing the chewed up end of her pencil to her lips. “What do you know about him?” Her voice was inquiring but blunt; she just wanted information. 

“You’re totally crushing on him,” Kemino said with a teasing smile. 

Gina rolled her eyes. “Am not. It’s for the stupid assignment.”

“Which is?”

“We have to draw each other from five years ago. Total bullshit since I just met the guy.”

Kemino took the towel off of her head and held it in her hands. She fiddled with it, thinking. She knew more than the rest of the day class about Zero’s past due to her involvement with the secret night society. About his family being murdered. In front of him. Just like how hers was.

“Well,” she started slowly, “remember how I said yesterday that he’s basically the headmaster’s son? It’s been rumored that his family died and Cross-san has been looking after him since.”

“Huh.” Gina had started nibbling on her pencil. He didn’t mention anything when she asked about his parents.

The blue haired girl walked across the room, put her towel on the back of her chair, and brought it over to Gina’s desk. “So what was little Gina-chan like five years ago?” she asked as she sat down. She brushed through her hair with her fingers to guide it to its normal style.

“Don’t call me little,” Gina said with a harsh tone, turning to the other girl. Kemino just stuck her tongue out at her with a smile. “I wasn’t too much different, cursed less. My hair was the same length all around and I started growing out my bangs. Boobs were smaller.”

“What about ten years?”

“Hmm… hair was down to my shoulder blades and I'd sometimes wear it in pigtails. Stop laughing. Got super focused on drawing and drew basic cartoons. Cross used to visit a lot more. Him and Mom would talk over tea and coffee. Dad would often play with me to leave them alone.”

“Oh, so you’ve known the headmaster for a while then?”

“Yeah, him and Mom have been friends for a long time.”

“Has he always been so feminine?”

“For as long as I’ve known him, yeah. Though Mom says he used to be a stiff.”

“That’s kinda hard to believe. So, what are your parents like?”

“First Kiryuu and now you. The hell’s up with the questions?”

Kemino’s face fell into a defeated look. “Sorry. Just wanted to get to know you a little better.”

Gina's eyes sheepishly looked away for a moment. “No, I didn’t mean to sound that angry. It’s fine.” She flipped her white sketchbook to one of the beginning pages. It was a simple drawing of her parents done in ink with colored markers used as highlights, one on each end of the page seemingly at a dining table. Her mother had strawberry blonde hair that reached past her shoulders. Her eyes were a golden brown and were a little wider than Gina’s. She was speaking with a smile, holding a coffee mug in her hands. She was wearing an oversized knitted sweater; the sleeves covering most of her hands. Her father had short red hair with a side part; the left side of his face was covered by hair. His visible eye was the same brilliant blue as Gina’s. He was leaning on one of his arms and seemed to be looking at his wife with pure adoration. He wore a plain long sleeved shirt. “Mom’s the more serious one and Dad sometimes acts like he’s still 22. They both just hang around at home.”

“Aww, you have your father’s eyes,” the blue haired girl smiled.

“I guess.” Gina flipped back to the boxes of Zeros. “So, what about you? What’s your family like?”

The smile on Kemino’s face dropped once again. This was the one question she didn’t want to be asked. “They’re…” she started, struggling to find the right words. Her purple eyes glanced to the side. She didn’t want to tell the truth, mostly for her own sake. But, just like the previous night, she couldn’t think of an excuse, as if compelled to tell the pink haired girl. “My parents passed away. Almost five years ago. It’s just me and the twins.”

“Oh.” Gina didn’t mean to bring up a sad topic; she just wanted to get even on asking questions. She remembered how Kemino woke up in the middle of the night to sneak out and the faded signs of her night terror. “Sorry.”

“No, no, you’re good; you didn’t know.” Kemino waved off Gina’s apology. She softly smiled. “It’s okay. Both of them were doctors. They ran a small clinic near our house and also did their own research. I have no idea what it was; I just remember being in charge of playtime some nights after dinner.”

“Sounds annoying. I’m an only child; so no idea what little kids are like.”

“Not at all! They’re the sweetest and most adorable kids in the world. Though you wouldn’t be able to tell we’re siblings; they both have purple hair and green eyes. Not entirely sure where they got it from.” Her face lit up as she spoke; her voice filled with adoration and pride. 

The pink haired girl nodded along at her roommate’s explanation. Before she could ask any follow up, a sharp wave of pain washed over her mind. She grabbed her head in pain with her eyes shut. “Damn it,” Gina winced out. 

“You okay?” Kemino asked. She reached her hand out, but stopped short when Gina’s eyes opened at her voice and, instead of their usual shade of blue, they were now a ghastly silver. As Gina panted in pain, her long canines were much more noticeable. Her stomach dropped. 

“J-just give me a sec,” Gina said. The sight of the blue haired girl and room faded away and was replaced with a collection of pink and white blotches surrounded by a dark blue; nothing with true form. Some moved and the coloring changed from time to time. A person moving or talking? Her mind's ears rang with a dull buzzing of a single pitch. She felt her pulse racing and a mix of fear and anger inside her. Her palms felt sweaty. She could smell flowers. Most of all, her throat was so dry that it felt like it was on fire and she could barely breathe.

Soon, both the vision and pain subsided. Her hand slowly trailed down from her head to her dry throat. Gina muttered a curse to herself as her eyes readjusted to the real world. “Sorry, random headache,” she said. She saw Kemino frozen in her chair, purple eyes wide and the color drained from her face. Her heart dropped in her chest. She bit her bottom lip and her eyes darted around a bit. “I’m going to get a drink.” The shorter girl left her chair and walked into the bathroom. 

Kemino’s eyes followed as the pink haired girl disappeared behind the door. Her heart was beating against her chest and fear paralyzed her body. Questions filled her mind, plagued with anxiety, but they all circled back to “why.” There was no longer a doubt in her mind. The fangs. The eyes. No wonder her body was on high alert around the small pink haired girl.

She was a vampire. 

**_~I’ll also show you a sweet dream next night~_ **


	6. Day Three

Kemino didn’t sleep that night. She laid awake in bed; her eyes watching for any change in the shadows that peeked out from under the bedroom door for hours. She held her purple bear tightly to her chest, trying to keep herself from having a panic attack. Her body was on edge. Her mind ran in circles, questioning why and worried for her own safety.

Gina never left her desk in the common room.

The blue haired girl sat up in bed, massaging her temples. In her mind she was trying to figure out why Gina was in the Day Class. Did the headmaster not know? Gina had said that her mother was close friends with the headmaster, so he must’ve. Was this a new step in the path of co-existence? There was no way that Zero approved of this. But he didn't seem to know anything yesterday when she asked. What about Kaname? Did the headmaster really do this without telling anyone? She had been circling back to these questions all night.

She brought her knees up and hugged them with a frown. Maybe she was wrong. Vampires' eyes glow red when they’re craving blood or using their powers; but Gina’s were silver. In the last five years, Kemino has met many vampires: the all powerful Pureblood Kaname Kuran, the Nobles of the Night Class, the old men that govern their world, the former human Zero Kiryuu, and those who lost their humanity and killed her parents. To be fair, she’s only seen the terrifying, starving, bloodstained gaze of the latter head on, but it was common, and mandatory, information for someone who lived in a vampire’s home.

The door opened, making Kemino’s body jump in fear. “Oh hey,” Gina said, her small body appearing past the wood. Her voice was quiet, aware of the tension that’s been in the air since last night. She was wearing a gray camisole this time with her black and white shorts. “You’re up early.”

Kemino quickly composed herself. “I don’t want to be,” she said with a fake pout, “but I have to pee.”

“Go ahead,” Gina said, holding back a yawn. She turned around and went back into the common area. “I can wait.” Kemino watched her walk back; probably to her desk. 

And the most confusing fact was that Gina seemed completely oblivious. 

The blue haired girl stretched out the kinks in her neck, groaning as a few bones popped. The vague light that passed through the curtains was gray, indicating that it was still fairly early in the morning. She got up and into the bathroom. It was just for show. She looked at her face in the mirror. She was going to need more makeup than usual to hide the bags under her eyes. “Feels like it needs to be a boring day,” she said to herself. 

She completed her act and exited back into the bedroom. Gina quickly reentered when she heard the toilet flush and went into the bathroom. Kemino flopped back on her bed, her body exhausted from anxiety. She glanced at her alarm clock. It was 4:39am. She groaned. She didn’t need to start getting ready for at least a couple of hours, but she didn’t want to stay in bed. She picked up her stuffed bear. “What are we going to do Rosepetal?” she whispered. The bear was silent. Its head tilted unnaturally to the side. Looking at the seam line, the bear’s head was starting to come off. Small bits of white stuffing were trying to make their way outside of the purple fur. “Someone needs surgery,” the girl commented with a small laugh.

Kemino stood up and walked out into the common room with Rosepetal in hand. It was dim, the only light being the lamp that was on Gina’s desk. As usual, it was covered in open sketch books. There was a new portrait of what she could assume was Zero with a rounder face and bigger eyes. The line work was more scratchy compared to the other work she’s done, almost as if conveying her frustration with the concept of the drawing. There was another book opened to a page of a bird on a tree branch next to its nest with Moon Dorms in the background. And another was the vampire from the other day, but coming down a grand staircase.

And finally, there was a smaller book that laid open. It’s the first time Kemino saw this one out. On the left page were a few notes written in Gina’s boxy words: “Lots of noise. Touch. Craving - physical and/or emotional? Heart beating. Throat dry.” The blunt descriptions sent a shiver down Kemino’s spine. On the right page was a strange collage of colors. In the center was a blob that was a mixture of whites and pinks, surrounded by dark blue. It almost looked like watercolor. Out of curiosity, Kemino turned the page. On the back of the picture was another set of notes: “Soft hum - voice? Fear. Anger. Sweaty hands. Floral smell. Throat burning - so dry it hurts.” 

The toilet flushed and the bathroom door opened. Gina stepped out into the common room behind her. “What are you doing out here?” she asked, scratching the back of her head with her eyes closed.

Kemino jumped to stand straight, obviously embarrassed to have been caught in the act of snooping. She held up her bear. “Rosepetal needs to have neck surgery.” Gina’s arm lowered when she opened her eyes and saw that her roommate was looking at the small book. Her blue eyes slid to the side, much in the same way Kemino’s did when she wanted to avoid giving an answer. “I didn't mean to look!” Kemino apologized while trying to hide her face behind her stuffed bear. Despite how her heart was racing in her chest, her curiosity peaked. She wondered if this image had something to do with what happened last night. “It’s just really different from the other stuff I’ve seen you draw.”

The pink haired girl slowly walked and sat in her chair with a sigh. She had her arms crossed and was biting her lower lip with her front teeth. Again, someone has seen her private collection without her meaning to. Would it be okay to tell her? Kemino was nice and all, and also didn't seem to show any habit of talking badly about people behind their backs. Could she be trusted?

“It’s okay,” Gina said, releasing another sigh. “You were bound to see it sooner or later.” Her blue eyes slowly went from the book to her standing roommate. “That headache I got last night isn't the first time. I’ve had them for as long as I can remember. Sometimes once in a while; sometimes multiple times a day. And when it happens, I... see things. Vague colors trying to create a form. There’s usually a buzzing noise and I can feel a surge of emotions. I don’t know why or how; it just happens.” 

Kemino was silent as she listened. She stroked both of Rosepetal’s hands with her thumbs. Her eyes lowered slightly in thought. Gina didn’t mention anything about her eyes; then again, it's a bit hard for someone to notice that. Did that mean this has never happened before in front of another person?

“Is that what’s been bothering you?” Gina asked after a moment of silence.

The blue haired girl shrugged. “A bit,” she said. “You got kind of scary.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it happened out of nowhere, so I was worried.” Kemino’s eyes drifted to the floor. “But your teeth are like fangs.”

Gina’s arms shifted to hold her elbows and she crossed her legs, uncomfortable with the topic. Her eyes glanced to the side and her brows started to furrow together. “They’re always like that,” she said quickly. “Can’t help it. Dad’s are the same.”

Her hands tightened around Rosepetal. “I know, but it just freaked me out a little,” Kemino said. “I got attacked by a dog once and it reminded me of it. My anxiety takes things and runs away with it.” The dog part was a lie, but it would make sense. The scars on the back of her shoulders itched as if in protest to her words. 

She noted the new information in the back of her mind. Gina didn’t say both her parents shared the trait, just her father. So her father is also a vampire, at least a Noble since Gina has some sort of unnatural power; and her mother is human. Did she know that her husband’s a vampire?

“SaiJin.” Gina’s voice broke her train of thought. Kemino jumped slightly as her mind refocused on the real world. The pink haired girl had a small frown and a concerned look on her face. “If I make you that uncomfortable, I can try and get Cross to put me in a different room.”

“No, it’s okay,” Kemino said. “I’ll get used to it. It’s just not something you see every day. I’m sorry for being weird about it.” She gave her roommate a weak smile. She then turned to walk to her own desk.

“Hey, SaiJin,” Gina said after she took a few steps. The blue haired girl turned back to her. She was running a hand through her pink hair, pulling her bangs out of her face for a split second before they fell back. Her eyes were downcast and she was avoiding whatever look Kemino had on her face. “Can you do me a favor and not tell anyone? I’d rather keep it between us.”

“Only if you pay attention in at least one class today,” she replied with a small giggle. Gina smiled.

Now with a lighter atmosphere, the two girls went to do their own thing. Getting to her desk, Kemino sat down and pulled out a sewing box from under it. She opened it to get a spool of purple thread, a needle and a small pair of scissors. Then, she turned on her desk lamp to examine the damage on Rosepetal’s neck. After her assessment, Kemino got to work. Once done with the repair, she kissed the tip of her bear’s nose. Her eyes glanced around her desk idly. They landed on a manga that had a small piece of paper stuck within its pages. She should finish reading that today so she could give it back to Takuma before he goes to class.

The morning hours passed slowly. The two girls were mostly quiet; a few small conversations about the upcoming classes. The blue haired girl was at her desk reading the manga that was on her desk and the pink haired one was drawing another scratchy sketch. Eventually, they heard the footsteps of the housekeeper walk by their room and unlock the bathrooms. Gina left to shower. Kemino went to the half bath in their bedroom.

She washed her face and tied up her hair. From the cabinet under the sink she pulled out a small box of makeup. She covered the bags under her eyes with concealer and went over her eyebrows and lashes with dark brown mascara. Staring at her reflection, she made a few faces before deciding to add a touch of blush and a pink tint to her lips. Then she added a touch of setting spray to her face. Next, she put away the makeup box and took a headband from a small open box of hair accessories next to it. She also took out a can of hairspray. She put the headband on to slick back her bangs and any loose strands that didn’t get tied back. Then she sprayed her hairline with the hairspray to keep everything in place. Once it was sufficient, she picked up the wig cap that had been laying on the sink and put it on.

After putting the spray back, Kemino walked out and started to get dressed. Before putting on her jacket and ribbon, she went into the closet. Two long rods ran across the wall, on each side, with long shelves above. The left side was filled with her clothes on plastic hangers: hoodies, jeans, dresses, and a few garments she had sewn. The right side was more bare; only a couple pairs of jeans and a few jackets. On the left shelf was a row of five wigs of various styles and colors on individual stands. She reached up to take down a brown one. 

Returning to the bathroom, Kemino put the wig on over her head. She carefully ran her fingers through the synthetic fibers to keep it in its clean bob style. It went down past her shoulders. In the mirror she looked a lot like Yuuki Cross; a lot like a normal girl except for her purple eyes. She didn’t want to be Kemino SaiJin for today; not the girl whose parents were killed in front of her by vampires; not the girl who was taken in by vampires; not the girl who was scared. Just a normal sixteen year old girl. She wasn’t always like this. There was a time where she wasn’t overly cautious of every person, but felt so long ago. As cliche as it sounds, everything changed on that day: the day her parents died and she learned about the existence of vampires.

It was five years ago. Kemino had a regional gymnastic competition in a huge city. There was also some sort of medical convention a block or so away her parents wanted to attend. They alternated going, the other staying with the children. She was worried that one of them would miss her acts, but they were both in the audience every time she was up. She had floor, balance beam, and vault routines that she had worked on for months. 

At the end of their long and busy day, the SaiJins walked through the city streets back to their car. Kemino was beaming in pride with her third place placement, a personal best. She walked between her parents. Her mother was pushing a double stroller, covering the sleeping twins. Everyone was happy.

It was the last leg of the walk, turning onto a secluded path, when two people seemingly blocked their path. Their clothes were dirty and didn’t seem to fit. Their skin was pale and they seemingly had a dead look in their dull eyes. It didn’t even look like they were breathing. Kaji SaiJin approached the two and asked if they needed help. As if activated by his voice, their eyes lit up with life and suddenly turned into a bright, glowing shade of red. Their mouths open to reveal large fangs.

Her father was attacked first; one of the two deformed vampires pouncing on him. They crashed into a nearby trash can, causing the lid to fly and fall back on the metal canister, echoing. Fangs bit into his neck and claws pierced his shoulders. He barely got out a scream as blood stained his clothes. Eleven year old Kemino was frozen in fear at the sight. Her mother’s scream shot through her body, telling her to run with the two toddlers in the stroller. She hesitated for a second, she was scared. Miyu SaiJin swung her purse at the other vampire as it moved closer to her and her children. It just lunged at her and tackled her to the ground. Kemino took the stroller and ran in the direction of the street, away from the cries. 

A shadow flew over her. The first vampire was now several feet in front of her. His face was void of any humanity he used to have, distorted into a monstrous manner. Blood covered his mouth and dripped down his chin. His eyes were glowing bright red. The sight made her stop, her path blocked. Behind her she could hear the other vampire let out a hiss. Tears were in her eyes. She was so scared. She didn’t know what to do; only that she had to protect the twins.

The vampire in front of her came towards her. She pushed the stroller to the side, slamming against a brick wall. The twins, though covered and unaware of the sight, started to weep from the jostle of movement. She covered her face with her arms, preventing the vampire from biting into her neck. Instead it bit her left forearm. She screamed and punched it in the eye, making it reel back. While it was recovering, she turned back to look at the other one. It was starting to move towards the stroller. She ran and threw herself over the double stroller. She felt fangs bite into her right shoulder, and then her left shortly after. This must’ve been what being stabbed felt like. She screamed and cried. The twins cried from under their cover.

Suddenly, as if like a gust of wind, the pain disappeared. The weight of the creatures on top of her vanished. A gentle voice asked if she was alright. Kemino slowly turned around, keeping her body over the stroller. Through her tear-blurred vision she saw two boys that looked to be a few years older than her. There was a boy with brown hair down to his shoulders and brown eyes wearing a gray coat. He was looking over the scene in disgust. The boy who had spoken had outgrown blonde hair and beautiful green eyes. She recognized him: he was wandering through the halls while she was waiting for her balance beam act; he even asked her about her routine. In his hands was a katana, the blade stained red. She sat frozen on the ground, looking up to her saviors. She didn’t respond, only silently crying. It didn't feel real, but the searing pain on her back said otherwise. There was another voice. The burnette boy called over to him. Whether it was from the blood loss or the overall experience, she then fainted.

She would later wake up within the main Ichijou house. The old vampire, Asatou Ichijou who came to the site just after she passed out, had decided to take in the orphaned SaiJins, presumably in good will. However, in a few months Kemino learned the truth. While on her way to meet Kaname and Takuma returning from visiting Yuuki, she overheard Asatou’s voice. In short, he was scolding an underling about getting access to her parents’ research; something he had tried to do for years with various offers. They had locked it all away within a safety deposit account that Kemino would be given access to once she turned 21. He complained about the hassle of orchestrating their deaths and how it was all for not, though it was fortunate that the children were alive and that he foresaw this as a possibility. Her world was quickly shattered again; people she had started to trust weren’t on her side. She was essentially an inconvenient tool. 

And so it was her mission to keep herself and the twins safe for the last five years; each day putting on a brave face while haunted with the memory of her parents’ murder. When Kaname and Takuma left to attend Cross Academy last year, Kemino saw it as a way out. It took her months to gather the courage to even suggest her attendance, partly relying on her friendship with Kaname, due to his powerful influence over the old vampires of the Senate. She did regret that the twins were on their own, but she hoped that her behavior and a building relationship with the headmaster would allow her to fight for them to be able to leave as well, an example that they knew their place and could be trusted.

Cross Academy wasn’t exactly the haven she had hoped it would be though.

The morning lecture went as expected. Kemino sat in her usual spot in the back of the room, able to have a full view. Students were tired, some muttering their complaints to one another. Yuuki was in the second row next to her roommate, Sayori, and was trying to focus on the lecture. Gina was just as bored as usual, though her nose wasn’t stuck in a sketchbook this time. She wore her uniform jacket open today, leaving her white button-up visible; a black camisole was slightly visible under the white fabric. Her red ribbon was loosely tied and laid unevenly on her breast. The pink haired girl was staring at the tall white haired boy that sat in the row ahead of her; she had her chewed pencil in her mouth while holding it in between her fingers and her brows were furrowed in thought. Said boy was resting his head in a hand with his eyes closed, trying to get a fraction of sleep. The teacher’s voice started to drag on. He was going over review, covering topics that were going to be on the quiz at the end of the week. Kemino already knew all of this. She idly doodled in the margins of her notes, creating various patterns of swirls. Review was always the worst kind of class. Her mind focused on more important questions.

What does one do with a vampire that doesn’t know she’s one? And one that doesn’t even know of their existence? The first time Gina saw the Night Class, she seemed to sense that there was something off about them. Did that even mean anything? Kemino wasn’t a vampire nor was she a member of the Hunter Association, a group of humans that hunted the vampires that posed a threat to the general public, however she could vaguely sense them in close quarters. It was difficult to say if it was because of her exposure to the race or if she had some natural talent for it.

Eventually, the mid-morning bell rang, signally a small break for the students and interrupting her thoughts. The teacher said a few last words, but was mostly silenced by the echoing bell. Kemino placed a hand over her mouth to hide a yawn as students started to bustle throughout the room. A boring lecture did not help with the fact that she didn’t get any sleep. She wished that the cafeteria offered coffee during breakfast.

Surprisingly, Gina got up. She put her pencil down, sat on the table, and swung around so her legs were over the other side. Her hands were by her side, holding on to the edge of the table. “Hey, Kiryuu,” she said, “you got any free time after class tonight?”

Zero seemed to groan when his name was called. He glanced behind to see the pink haired girl behind him, still hunched over with his head resting on his hand. His eyes were narrowed. “I don’t see why that’s any of your business,” he said in his typical angsty tone.

Gina rolled her eyes. “Oh, don’t be such an ass,” she said. She crossed her legs at her ankles. “Look, I was a bitch to you yesterday, so I was going to offer you a chance to get a better reference drawing. I’m struggling with this stupid assignment and wanted to study you a bit more.”

“Annoying,” Zero mumbled.

She picked up her sketchbook in a huff, showing him a scratchy sketch that she drew during the night. “Look at this, it’s garbage! Come on, just let me have, like, ten minutes to re-evaluate some stuff!”

The white haired boy sat up straight and turned to face the pink haired girl head on. “Don’t talk about me like I’m some sort of test subject; it’s creepy!”

Kemino couldn’t help but laugh. The only other person she had seen make Zero react in such a way was Yuuki; he usually blew people off. The two turned at the sound, as if dumbfounded. “Sorry, sorry,” she said. “Didn’t mean to interrupt your little spat.” She stood up from her seat. “I’m going to run to the bathroom quickly.”

“Have fun,” Gina said. She turned to attention back on Zero. “It’s going to help your grade in the long run anyway, so just agree to it!”

Kemino headed down the steps to the classroom door, unable to hear Zero’s rebuttal. The smile she had on fell as she left the room. The hall was predictably filled with numerous Day Class students. They conversed with one another, talking about the morning’s events and complaining about various assignments. Some girls were gathered together to talk about their admiration for Aidou in the Night Class. The currently brown haired girl sighed to herself as she walked through the crowds. She was tired, both mentally and physically. Not too far from the classroom down the hall was the girl’s bathroom. She finished her business quickly and washed her hands. After drying them, she rubbed her tired eyes; careful to not harm her makeup.

Should she try and get more evidence to prove it? No, that could go bad; exposing one to blood is dangerous. Also the glowing eyes and fangs were enough. Unless Zero was lying about werewolves not existing. Should she confront the headmaster about it? Would he even be honest about it? Would either of them know anything about silver eyes? What about Kaname? The downside of asking Kaname would be that any sort of fishy situation would get reported back to the Senate, meaning her guardian would find out and that could get bad. Takuma? No, if it was something serious, he would tell Kaname; which, as mentioned, could make things bad for her.

It was always annoying when she couldn’t figure out an answer. 

A gaggle of voices approached the bathroom door before opening. Four girls entered the restroom: one with long, dirty blonde hair that was slightly curled and some held back with a clip and hazel eyes, two with brown hair and brown eyes, one long and straight and the other short and curly, and one with black hair that went past her shoulders and brown eyes. All had their uniforms in a neat manner. Kemino bit her lip and her stomach fell. She recognized all of them; her usual tormentors. She mentally cursed to herself for getting lost in her thoughts and not leaving sooner.

They were all giggling until they took notice that they weren’t alone. “SaiJin,” the blonde said with visible disgust. The other girls mirrored her look.

“Are you trying to pry for attention again?” the black haired girl asked, looking over the disguised girl.

Kemino resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I’m sorry if my fashion choices offend you,” she said with her usual politeness. “I was just on my way out, if you’d excuse me.” When she took a step forward, the three dark haired girls blocked her path. A feeling of dread washed over her.

“I actually wanted to have a talk with you,” the blonde girl said. She had a sinister smile that failed to act with kindness.

“How can I help you, Tachibana-san?” Kemino already knew where this was going to go.

The other girls moved in and started to surround her. The blonde, Tachibana stood in front of her with a hand on her hip. “You have some nerve with how you’ve been approaching Ichijou-senpai and the others.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t act dumb,” the curly haired girl said.

“How you stand there near the school building to hide away from the disciplinary committee. Do you think you can get away with having the Night Class to yourself?” the other burnette joined in.

“You need to quit being so casual with Ichijou-senpai,” Tachibana said with a displeased look. “And stop it with your little book exchange.”

Kemino let out a small sigh. “I don’t like crowds and I’m only being friendly to them, just like I would to anyone else. And Takuma-kun is -”

Tachibana slapped her across the face with an open palm. “How many times do I have to tell you to back off from him?” she snapped.

Kemino could only look down at their feet in silence, feeling her eyes swell with tears. Her face stung. It wasn’t the first time she’s heard those words, nor was she the first person to tell her that. But it always hurt, more so that the physical hit. 

_ Keep your distance. Don’t get attached. Remember your place. _

“Mind telling me what the fuck’s going on?” a new voice called out with a venomous tone. The five girls turned to the door. Standing there was the new pink haired student.

“Gina-chan…” Kemino breathed out. Her voice wavered slightly.

Her blue eyes observed the scene. Gina looked at her roommate, seeing the tears in her eyes and the left side of her face red. Her eyes narrowed and she growled, almost as if she was baring her fangs.

“It’s none of your business,” the black haired girl said. 

“Oh yeah?” Gina walked to stand in front of Kemino, shoving past two of the girls. “I’m pretty sure it is.”

“Can’t stand up for yourself, SaiJin? Need someone else to?” Tachibana sneered. Her friends started laughing.

Gina grabbed Tachibana by the collar and shoved her into the door of the stall behind her. The blonde let out a shriek. “Says the bitch with a posse.” 

“Gina-chan, stop!” Kemino called out.

Gina bared her fangs at the girl, glaring. Tachibana was shaking and her hazel eyes were full of fear, not used to someone using force against her. Two of the other girls, the one with black hair and the one with the curly hair, took hold of Gina to try and pull them off their friend. Gina shook her right arm free from the girl’s frail grip and then threw a punch, slamming her closed fist against the metal stall door right next to Tachibana’s face. The sound echoed in the room, deafening everything else. There was an audible gasp from the curly haired girl as she saw that the pink haired girl dented the metal and she let go of Gina’s shoulder.

She tightened her hold on Tachibana’s collar and pushed her more against the stall. “If you piss with SaiJin again, I won’t miss next time,” Gina growled. “Do you understand?”

Tachibana, eyes wide in fear and disbelief, nodded. The pink haired girl looked like a monster with her sharp teeth.

Gina let go of her collar. “Good. Now, all of you, fuck off.” The four girls quickly left the restroom, obviously scared of the short girl. Gina glared at the doorway until it closed behind them. She made a noise between a growl and a sigh, as if satisfied with the result. Her eyes softened and she looked back to her roommate. “The fuck was their problem?” she asked.

“They don’t like how friendly I am with the Night Class,” Kemino said with a sad smile. “Tachibana-san’s especially upset over how close I am with Takuma-kun. The others back her up. They think I’m trying to have all of them to myself because I don’t stand with the rest of them.”

“Maybe they should try acting like normal people instead of crazed fangirls; it's their own damn fault.” Gina slowly reached a hand up and placed it on Kemino’s face.

Her hand was cold to the touch. “What are you doing?” Kemino asked, wincing slightly.

“My hands are always cold, “Gina said. “Thought it would help ease some of the pain.”

“It’s not that bad; I’ll live.” Kemino took hold of her hand and took it off her face. While she held it, her eyes quickly glanced between it and the dent in the stall. The back of Gina’s hand was a little red from the impact, but had no signs of bruising at all. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“You were taking too long. I wanted to make sure that you were okay.”

Kemino smiled. “You’re sweet, Gina-chan.” Again, she could feel tears build up in her eyes. This time in gratitude.

**_~I’ll also show you a sweet dream next night~_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Chapters are slow because it's hard to write about high school when you're about 10 years out of it.


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